30 | Game Designer(?) | Arcade Lover | KOF Hippie™ | Ascended & Unhinged Sonic Fan | Sudden Onset Touhou Fan (it's terminal)


beatmania Song Of The Day
cohost.org/5keysongoftheday

y'know it's sad but also darkly funny that raocow's trip through paper mario had him eventually have to stop reading all comments and discussions because everyone was backseating him so much.

like, imagine backseating someone through paper mario, the baby rpg with baby numbers. how lowly do you have to think of a guy to do that? "ooooh he's not using enough different badges" the game does not care. it's paper mario it does not matter as long as you can press a button at the right time unless you're doing some optional nonsense fight.

it feels like that particularly annoying brand of fan of the first two paper mario games love to show how they're experts on a game that by and large does not care if the player is an expert and it kind of helps me understand why they seem to act like that in regards to the later ones, at least when talking about the gameplay?

ironically, my time spent with both TTYD and Origami King led me to the same conclusion: there are some mechanics that could be interesting but the games are so freakin' easy that it actually doesn't matter how you use them all that much. but only 64/TTYD have a gang of shooters who will roll up on you to explain the optimal strategy for a game designed so first-graders can beat it.


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in reply to @armormodekeeg's post:

I have thought about this sort of backseating and why it happens because I've caught myself doing it before and I don't think it has anything to do with playing a game optimally, or at least not when it comes to game mechanics.

I think what worries people a lot when they watch someone play a game they like is whether they'll have the "right" experience. as in, whether they'll see and do the things that player values/sees as the reason why that game is good. I think it happens a lot in RPGs because people tend to like minute details about the mechanics - did you know if you use this combination of items you can deal absurd damage, etc.
I've noticed this when I watched a stream of FFV and we were all telling the streamer how important it was that they got Lv. 5 Death. Because we all think it's a funny thing you can do to bosses but... would you say it's really necessary to enjoy the game? I didn't know about it the first time I played, and I still had a blast.

So I guess there's just some subconscious worry that if that person whose opinion you care about doesn't experience the game the same way you did, they won't "get it". and will not think much of the game. Same reason why people talk about a recommended playing order for a series or whatever. But what if they play the wrong game at the wrong time and don't appreciate the full picture? It doesn't really matter, I feel.

People need to relax and let folks enjoy things their own way. It's also not super important if the influencer all the way in Canada doesn't like the thing you like.