The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

Some people just want a hardcore experience. Some people just pine for a time when you had to play sections of game over and over again in order to memorize and master concepts. They just get off on that feeling of mastery, that feeling of doing something perfectly and knowing that they are basically the gods of this or that discipline.

I’m not one of those people.

I mean, I can enjoy a good roguelike, say. But there’s a distinct difference between a roguelike and what I am talking about here. In a roguelike, things are always randomized. You aren’t memorizing locations, you’re learning a set of skills that applies overarchingly, and having to make decisions based on those skills on a regular basis.

The kind of game I’m talking about, like, say, Demon’s Souls, is not like that. It’s about learning the mechanics of the combat, yes, but it’s also about memorizing that there is going to be ambushes here, here, and here, and I need to fire a spell blindly down this way because a guy will pop out, and so on and so forth.

I mean, Demon’s Souls has some great production values. It’s dark, but it looks awesome. It’s got some really creative ideas about what an online game should be, and it has an interesting mythology going over it at. But when I got it from Gamefly and was playing through it, I couldn’t help but feel like it was just memorization I was going through. Sure, I was slowly figuring out how to kill enemies in a more efficient manner, but mostly, it was figuring out exactly what enemies were going to attack when through trial and error. I worked hard to memorize the first little dungeon, and kept plugging at it until I reached and beat the first boss. Then, looking at the other levels and knowing I’d have to do it all over again, I immediately returned it. I just couldn’t take that. Plus, I had just gotten my physical body back. Might as well leave while I’m on top and alive, hm?

For people who get off on the concept of mastery, and I know they are out there, Demon’s Souls is probably the greatest game to come out in a long time, and I’m very happy for them to get to play it. But these days, I set games to Easy or Casual and just want to experience them. There were some cool experiences in my time with Demon’s Souls, running across a bridge while being attacked by guys on all sides and a dragon doing fire-breathing bombing runs being one of the neatest ones. But I just can’t take the frustration to see more of that. I want relaxation from my games.

Such is the magic of Gamefly, though, that I get to approach it that way. Try it and get it out of the way. I wanted to try the game, and I did. I’m glad I did. But now I can move on to other things.