January 30, 2008

Getting Sick of Games: Two Case Studies

So I can’t play Advance Wars: Days of Ruin.
I thought it was just that I couldn’t play MUCH of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin? I’d play it in little spurts. That’s fine, I thought. It’d last me awhile. But I’m to the first level where I’ve hit a stalemate, and it’s going to take me gods know how many turns to break it. And I just don’t want to. And I don’t. I mean, I want to push through the campaign so I can unlock all the COs for multiplayer, but I just can’t do it. It’s just like in Risk. There comes a point where you know a player is going to win. They’ve won the game. But to actually beat everyone in the game, it’s going to take another hour of pointless dice rolling. Hard Advance Wars levels can easily get like this. I know I will beat the computer. I’m not in danger of losing. But the number of turns it would take is just not worth my time. And so I put the game down.
Now, I’m not saying Advance Wars: Days of Ruin isn’t a good game. Because it totally is. It’s a great game, a vast improvement from a mechanics standpoint from Dual Strike, very friendly to those new to the series, and offering the robust online play that the hardcore want. But I know how to play the game. It hasn’t taken me too long to get most of what there is to know about using the new units. (I think Carriers might be more powerful than I’m giving them credit for, but that’s about it.) And once I figure that out, all that’s left is this great game, but a great game I have played to death, and when it confronts me with these “waste 20 turns to push past this stupid bridge” moments… it’s hard to care.
This all got started because Parish put out a call for “what should we ask the people behind Advance Wars” for this interview they were doing, and I eventually wrote up some things I wanted to hear, a lot about their process in making units and balancing them, as well as justifying the attempt at a serious story in a game with silly gameplay mechanics, but it made me realize that I hadn’t played the game in like 2, 3 days. So I put on a podcast and start and I put it down in like 10 minutes. I dunno. It’s just… it’s kind of depressing, I guess. Advance Wars is one of my favorite series… oh well, I suppose I have Culdcept Saga to enjoy next week.

Also, there seems to be a lot of talk recently about how I seem incapable of getting tired of Kingdom of Loathing. Here’s why, in a numbered list. 1) It doesn’t take much time in the day to do. I rarely play marathon sessions and when I do, it’s after not playing for like 4 days, so it’s not old. Also, I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t care about being optimal, so I don’t mind if I don’t play for a week and then come back. 2) It’s perfect to play while podcasting. 3) It’s neat to see my set of skills build over time as I perm them and make me more flexible and more powerful. 4) I play as one class for like… 2 months. And then I ascend and switch. The classes do play differently. Not a whole lot, but enough that it keeps the combat from being completely old. I’ve been every class, but for the past few months I’ve only been Pastamancer… so now that I’m a Sauceror, the various splash buffs make the experience different. 5) I listen to the Jick and Skully show and thusly I am constantly hearing about all the new stuff they’re working on, and it’s all really neat. 6) I’ve still got goals to shoot for. I want the Tome of Transcendent Olfaction and the Pompadour’d puppy. That takes a lot of time. And when I get done with all that, I do want to see all the cool content in Bad Moon. Hell, just going Hardcore Oxygenarian to get the Plexiglass Pocketwatch made the game feel a lot different, because as a “normal run” player, I do get dependent on Hagnk’s and the mall for various items. It also made the game slower, which meant I could play less often and not lose any turns, which is good for getting over boredom with the game. If I feel boredom setting in, I’ll be doing another Hardcore Oxy run, you can be sure. Probably as a Seal Clubber. 7) Finally, even being on my tenth ascension, there are still jokes that I missed that I will randomly get and make me laugh my ass off.
Anyway, there’s some reasons. Does that clarify? I don’t know.

This has been a look at two games I love, one that I’m sick of and one that I’m not. Feel free to use this to figure out how I get sick of things. Or something. Hell, I dunno.

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