What in-game habits have you learned?

[Brian Boru]

First game … there was something hidden behind the waterfall in the commons. He's checked every single waterfall ever since

♣ Check appliances, be disproportionately disappointed when they don't work—eg TVs don't turn on/off, fridges don't open.

Pretty sure it's Far Cry 5 which has the comic book collection quest. When you bring 'em back to the collector, you have to find a key to get in the house and claim your reward. Took me a long time… it was in the top mini-freezer part of a tall fridge among all the other junk around the yard.

♦ Demolish everything in 2D games, in case there's treasure behind.

One of the early Royal Envoy games has a big treasure hidden behind a valuable house. Took me a long time… these days I do a 'research run' demolishing everything, and then restart

♥ Reload ammo at every opportunity.

Guess we've all been there… round a corner with half a clip and run into a squad or big monster = RIP. I wish devs could make it an option that when there's a pause in shooting, weapons auto-reload.
Options are a Good Thing!

♠ Travel on foot, rather than use transport.

2004 taught me this one, when both Half Life 2 and Far Cry launched my "I wonder what's over there" habit. With more recent bigger and better worlds, it's become more rewarding.

How about you?

 

[ZedClampet]

If I'm in a building and think, "Now where the hell am I supposed to go?" I should look up because there's probably a hole in the ceiling. If not, there's a tiny vent somewhere way too small for me that I'm supposed to crawl through.

Don't overthink conversation choices. There is no subtlety. They mean what they say.

If I'm not sure I can survive a jump, I'm about to die because I definitely can't survive it, but I'm trying it anyway because the alternative of following the path would cost me an extra 30 seconds. I fall to my death more often than I'm killed by enemies in most games.

In single-player survival games, don't cheat once unless I've thought it through very carefully and decided that's the only way I want to continue the game. That one cheat is the beautifully decorated and air conditioned one-way path to Hell. Once I start down that path, there's no turning back unless I start the whole game over.

If I'm in a Ubisoft open world fight and suddenly think "Oh $h!t!" I should turn and run away. If I can get away from where the fight is supposed to take place, I can win the thing because the AI will often only haltingly come after me, usually one or two NPC's at a time. It gives me time to heal, and I can pick them off as they look for me. Occasionally, they give up looking for me altogether, and I can go back into the fight area, but now against a smaller force.

 

[Zloth]

Save early, save often.

In most games (and in the vast majority of AAA games), if you get a choice on which way to go, and the way you pick lets you keep going for 30+ seconds, turn around and go back. You need to do this because you picked the correct way to go. If you had gone the wrong way, you would have run into a dead end - and very possibly a little bit of treasure to make you feel better about picking the "wrong" path. You want treasure, right? So go back, get to the dead end, get the treasure that's there, THEN go the "correct" way to continue the game.

The previous hint is even more important if the dead end is a waterfall. Devs just love to put treasure behind waterfalls. I presume it's so you are thinking good thoughts about the game as you run off to the bathroom.

Don't buy a game when it comes out. Wait at least a month. If you expect to play a game just one time, wait for all the DLC to show up. (This can be difficult to impossible for some Paradox games. Europa Universalis 4 is coming up on its 10th birthday and it has been churning DLC out constantly for all those years.)

Occasionally, they give up looking for me altogether, and I can go back into the fight area, but now against a smaller force.

That was THE strategy in Greedfall!

 

[Slasken]

Check out paths that lead nowhere. They usually have treasure at the end.

 

[Pifanjr]

When starting a game for the first time, I always take a look at the options first. I note any interesting key binds, for example a button labeled "special attack", and try those out first. I'll also look through every menu and screen the game has available as soon as possible.

Also see https://forums.pcgamer.com/threads/what-gaming-quirks-do-you-have.2012/

 

[Frindis]

♠ Travel on foot, rather than use transport.

Yes, yes, and triple yes!

I try to have my aim centered when playing shooters so I don't have to drag my aim up whenever I see an enemy.

I always snipe people from the shadows. In Dayz, I'm not proning in the woods or on a hill with little to no foliage around me (especially considering the rendering at longer distances or silhouetting). I'm at the back of a small room looking through a small hole and the chance of getting spotted first is pretty much nonexistent. If only I could shoot also

There is always someone camping in the bathroom and almost always with a bloody shotgun, so I try to tread very carefully.

I try to remember to pre-fire around the corner.

Just one more dungeon means at least a couple more after that one.

Going on autopilot with a permadeath character will never end well.

There are no friendly players in Rust knocking on your door in the middle of the night, so I shoot first and ask questions later.

I try to look as little as possible behind me when playing horror games. I know for a fact there is something there.

Dark Souls taught me to be careful when opening chests.

I always try to do stupid/fun things in multiplayer games. The recent one happened in Diablo 4 where I went to one of the town portals and just started running around in circles for several minutes on top of the small portal. Didn't take long before more joined me and we grew to a small group running around in circles for no particular reason. Love random stuff like that!

 

[mainer]

♣ Check appliances, be disproportionately disappointed when they don't work—eg TVs don't turn on/off, fridges don't open.

Always, depending upon the game, as some games they're just static objects. But in a game like Fallout 4 (Brian - you really need to give that a harder try), almost every appliance is functional, either as a container or crafting station. Always check fridges for food, water, Nuka Colas, or sometimes strange encounters:

View: https://youtu.be/qOG-NdXxiww


TVs are either dead or just show static, but there is a mod that changes that:
Videos of the Wasteland at Fallout 4 Nexus - Mods and community (nexusmods.com)

♥ Reload ammo at every opportunity.

In a game with guns, if there's a reload key, I'll always hit it. I've been killed in the past by only having 1 or 2 shots left in a clip. I don't like an "auto-reload" feature unless I completely go through my ammo, in which case it makes sense if my character runs out during combat.

♠ Travel on foot, rather than use transport.

I'm assuming you're talking about open world games here, as some games will put you into a fast travel/transport sequence where you have no choice. But otherwise, I also avoid it and travel by foot (or horse if applicable), as so many random things or encounters can happen when you hoof it, compared to just "fast traveling" from marker to marker all over the map. Journey before Destination.

One exception that I've had to concede was in Fallout 4 when building multiple settlements scattered all over the map, mainly because of random settlement attacks by various forces. You need to help protect your settlements and it's difficult to do successfully, especially later in the game when you have 15+ settlements to protect.

**Talking to everyone. I'm talking from an RPG perspective here, but doing so will often lead to clues, information, or new quests. Sometimes NPCs don't have anything to say, or maybe it's just the same dialog over and over, but sometimes you can get into a branching dialog that isn't available by any other means.

 

[Brian Boru]

Fallout 4 (Brian - you really need to give that a harder try)

Shouldn't be a problem, since I haven't given it any try yet Played a couple of hours to see if there was any obvious gotcha, but all's well—so should be next after I finish FC6, I'm also looking at mods in off moments.

some games will put you into a fast travel/transport sequence where you have no choice

Oh sure, got plenty of those in games I play—I'm talking about preferring on-foot travel when you can choose.

 

[Zloth]

Oh sure, got plenty of those in games I play—I'm talking about preferring on-foot travel when you can choose.

I think you can walk everywhere in Mad Max....

For me, finding all the fast travel points is one of the early priorities!

 

[ipman]

I think each game does have it's own internal set of rules> I'm playing AAA games on UH so I think most of those have become intuitive.
In RD2 it's good to listen to your horse, it will just give you a slight warning that a pack of wolves are close.

In games with wild roaming enemy, it's good to have a cliff or rock face on one side of your character, cuts down potential angles of attack.

Always make enemy robots or foes friendly and then let the others fight it out with them, even if they survive they will be weakened and easy to finish. Sometimes I follow enemy bandits at a distance, knowing sooner or later they will get into combat, waltz in and loot afterwards.

Keep moving, especially if playing stealth or sniper games, the AI seems to only be able to locate where you last fired from. Also attacking from high ground, or high up off ground gives an advantage.

I think in most games you get an idea of where the dev team have hidden precious objects.

 

[bendenison]

The main gaming habit I've learned after a few years is that you have to take a break from it all. Because it can be very damaging to your nervous system. That's how it worked out for me. For a long time, I had problems with my habits, such as playing until late at night, and after that, I had long, sleepless nights. But I managed to correct this situation. I was able to give up playing games at night and in the evening. And restoring my sleepless nights was helped by affordable cbd gummies Canada , which brought me back calm and harmony in my life.

 

[neogunhero]

• Always check game settings when first launching a game. I typically max out settings then try to figure out what’s tanking performance the worst later on haha.
• Crouch is always Ctrl, no exceptions
• Shoot every explosive barrel even after the firefight
• If it’s a game where I will quick save a lot, bind quick save to NumPad+ and quick load to NumPad / for quick and easy access with my right hand
• Hoard all the special ammo and don’t use it until you REALLY need to
• I’ll typically favor a heavy drum-mag over a pistol. It’s not faster to switch to your pistol if you make sure to keep a full drum at all times.
• In games with very detailed worlds, I’ll spend a ton of time looking at even the tiniest little detail, reading all the stickers on the bulletin board or book titles on shelves, or look into peoples fridges. I like to see what weird things the devs like to add in as little jokes.
• In games that have food/drink that give you temporary boosts I typically hoard a ton of them and make sure to eat constantly
• Weapon/armor repair kits are getting used constantly. It’s really annoying in games with gear degradation to have a piece of equipment break in the middle of a fight.

 

[ipman]

Yes I like looking at all notice boards, adverts on posts in the street(GTAV is full of funny ones), but also people's personal possessions like their books or PC's and stuff left behind in DG.

I've also learnt there's no difference between a horde and a load of crazy people on sale days, who are after that LG tv bargain you picked up.

And slightly different; if you want to know how to do something difficult in a game watch YT vids and the same goes for learning how to do stuff in real life.

 

[Pifanjr]

And slightly different; if you want to know how to do something difficult in a game watch YT vids and the same goes for learning how to do stuff in real life

I loathe watching a video to learn how to do something. I much rather read an article with pictures where I can do it at my own pace and where it's easy to reread something or jump forwards when you can skip some of the instructions.

 

[neogunhero]

I loathe watching a video to learn how to do something. I much rather read an article with pictures where I can do it at my own pace and where it's easy to reread something or jump forwards when you can skip some of the instructions.

If the video is quick, precise, and straight to the point then I much prefer that. However most videos aren’t, and you have to scrub through a 10 minute video to find 2 minutes of instructions. Either full of useless babbling or the person doesn’t know how to edit the video to be just the important parts. A lot of people also play the YouTube algorithm to make money and get their videos monetized. If I see a video that is exactly 10 minutes and 1-10 seconds in length I won’t watch it, I know it was extended to hit the 10 minute mark so they can place ads in the video.

 

[Zimbaly]

Well for Elder scrolls games I've learned it pays to pick up every ingredient you can and make potions for money. Probably the best advice for those games. Ya want tons of money or need to get items then make potions and sell them.

I've also learnt in games that everything dies if you smash it, but wait.... what if smashing does little damage. Well then that means I can smash it more!!!!!!!

 

[Pifanjr]

I've also learnt in games that everything dies if you smash it, but wait.... what if smashing does little damage. Well then that means I can smash it more!!!!!!!

Even better when you get experience per smash instead of per kill. Which is why playing Elder Scrolls games on harder difficulties are a great way to level up fast.

 

[McStabStab]

Something ingrained in me from Survival Horror games:
If you need to open something, kill something, interact with something, etc. and you can find a way to do it without taking damage and without using ammo, that's what you gotta do. Why use a gun when a knife can do? You may need that one bullet later on.

Another thing I learned from RPGs:
If the game has a loot system where you can strip unconscious or dead enemies after a battle, it is your DUTY to do so if they gave you hard time. Their nakedness must bring shame to them and their family for challenging you!

 

[neogunhero]

Well for Elder scrolls games I've learned it pays to pick up every ingredient you can and make potions for money. Probably the best advice for those games. Ya want tons of money or need to get items then make potions and sell them.

I would walk from one city to another city far from where I start and just collect every single ingredient I could find along my journey. Then whatever town I end up in I hit the alchemy store and make as many potions as I can, sell them to the merchant, and if they run out of gold I’ll buy some extra health potions then sell the rest of my potion inventory. It’s honestly the funnest way to make money in those games.

 

[captaincrazy]

In any 1st or 3rd person action / rpg or 2d platformer, when you first 'spawn' into the game, whatever direction your facing, turn round and run in the opposite direction ... 50/50 there's treasure ;P

 

[Rolfil]

If a game only has a one save slot then if possible manually back it up by copying and renaming it. Otherwise the game WILL have some sort of error that borks your progress and has you starting from scratch.