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General discussionKeeping notes during data dense games?(67 posts)(67 posts)
(67 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted December 19, 2017
I get why some may want to watch parts of a game... I've done it myself to learn how to play it in this age of no effing manuals. But I didn't read Nighcrawlers post that way. I thought he was saying people were just watching YouTubes of games INSTEAD OF PLAYING them.

If I read that wrong, then my bad. If I didn't read that wrong, then to me that's gotta be the dumbest thing I've ever heard, I guess unless one were absolutely NOT going to buy that game. Then maybe there's some social reasons for watching it (i.e. it's the hottest game on the market right now and so I want to be able to at least take part in any conversation about it with my friends) or something like that.

But man, if someone buys a game, and then instead watches someone else play it on youtube.... I just can't wrap my head around that. At all.
Posted December 19, 2017
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OldFatGuy: I get why some may want to watch parts of a game... I've done it myself to learn how to play it in this age of no effing manuals. But I didn't read Nighcrawlers post that way. I thought he was saying people were just watching YouTubes of games INSTEAD OF PLAYING them.

If I read that wrong, then my bad. If I didn't read that wrong, then to me that's gotta be the dumbest thing I've ever heard, I guess unless one were absolutely NOT going to buy that game. Then maybe there's some social reasons for watching it (i.e. it's the hottest game on the market right now and so I want to be able to at least take part in any conversation about it with my friends) or something like that.

But man, if someone buys a game, and then instead watches someone else play it on youtube.... I just can't wrap my head around that. At all.
I personally think it's just an exaggeration that people prefer watching to playing. I'd like to think that if they want to enjoy a certain game, they'll play it for themselves first. No matter how popular these Youtubers may be, I don't think passionate gamers would want plot points and endings spoiled secondhand.
Posted December 19, 2017
I only watch playthroughs for three reasons:

1. I'm stuck and rather than punching my monitor, I watch someone else do it.
2. I'm on the fence about a game, and I want to see if it's something I enjoy. To date, I've bought Rimworld because it looked like fun, and oh boy is it.
3. It's a game I have no intention of buying,but I'm curious.
Posted December 19, 2017
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OldFatGuy: But man, if someone buys a game, and then instead watches someone else play it on youtube.... I just can't wrap my head around that. At all.
I don't think that's what nightcraw1er.488 meant. Not purposely doing that. However, I can easily imagine it happening because of all the talk about people having a backlog of unplayed games.

Buy a game. Watch some videos about it hoping to figure out how to get started, just like what you said. And then… have to do other things in life instead of playing. Into the backlog it goes, but sort of accidentally.

That gets me thinking a lot of people have likely experienced that.
Posted December 19, 2017
I never have bothered with maps and notes, but in retrospect, I think that I should have. That old Sierra game Zeliard is a good example. I remember making my way all the way to the inferno level before giving up because of all the confusing one way walls and air currents.

I tend to lose interest quickly if I need to store too much in my head through an entire game.
Posted December 19, 2017
I don't keep notes or maps, for a few simple reasons.

1. I expect competent maps in any game that requires them from about 1990 onward. Which makes games like Maddog Williams extra frustrating, because it was made in 1992. Which is well beyond when Kings Quest ]|[ introduced the magic map, yet Maddog has lines dedicated to sassing the player for odd commands.

2. In game that do give a journal, I expect to not have to file away notes manually. Not because I'm entitled or lazy, but more that who wants to waste time keeping track of landmarks in 13+ locations, each of which has multiple landing zones? You can't append pictures to the journal, so all you'd have to go on, is "At the weird yellow mushroom, there's X."
Posted December 19, 2017
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OldFatGuy: But man, if someone buys a game, and then instead watches someone else play it on youtube.... I just can't wrap my head around that. At all.
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thomq: I don't think that's what nightcraw1er.488 meant. Not purposely doing that. However, I can easily imagine it happening because of all the talk about people having a backlog of unplayed games.

Buy a game. Watch some videos about it hoping to figure out how to get started, just like what you said. And then… have to do other things in life instead of playing. Into the backlog it goes, but sort of accidentally.

That gets me thinking a lot of people have likely experienced that.
Nope, I meant exactly what I posted. People watch others play on YouTube, there are whole areas dedicated to it. I suppose it saves on doing it yourself. The argument that it's just like watching a movie is wrong, a movie tries to get a storyline across, very few if any games have a storyline outside moving from one moment to another. And to say it's only to learn how to play a game is nonsense too. Games are so simplistic nowadays, follow the big glowy gold arrow, and shout eww eww a as you go.
There was a South Park episode on it some time back (yes that's where I get all my up to date info from).
Posted December 19, 2017
I don't recall which game(s) (RPGs) it was where I kept having the problem that the mazes were quite vast and you never really knew at first where in the map you were in a new level, e.g. were you in the middle of the map, or some corner, or what.

So I started drawing the map on a piece of paper, only to later find out that shit I started drawing it at the wrong edge of the paper and I run out of paper. Then I'd need to redraw all that I had drawn so far on a new page.

Nah, I require automaps and clear quest logs for my RPGs nowadays. I am not a cartographer nor a secretary.
Post edited December 19, 2017 by timppu
Posted December 19, 2017
Outside of a few games like The Witness, Breath of the Wild (just to keep track of certain things), and older stuff (original Metroid), not really.

Although I regret not taking notes when playing through La-Mulana.
Posted December 19, 2017
Not necessarily data dense games, but it sure does bug me that no games seem to be made with a notebook I can use in them anymore. I'll most often be jotting something down like a small skill progression plan, or which lords in Mount and Blade are upstanding/martial and should be recruited to my kingdom, or which city it was best to sell certain goods in. Just small notes like that.

I definitely loved custom map notes in Morrowind! I don't understand especially why "open world" games don't have such basic functions as a notebook included, seems like the easiest bit to build, but eh.

_editted for error_
Post edited December 19, 2017 by Sturleson
Posted December 19, 2017
Notes work better for the older games like people say but also those kind of puzzles where there's lots of info to considered or you have to remember a long sequence of actions.

I found paint programs with a layers function to be helpful for making maps and marking points of interest. It would have been nice to have some kind of program to sort out quests into the most efficient for your time.
Posted December 19, 2017
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nightcraw1er.488: When are games going to play themselves, well it was around 2015 with the rise of YouTube. Now most just watch others play games on YouTube with some dipshit commentary.
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OldFatGuy: That's gotta be the dumbest damned thing I've ever heard. Do they also buy the games? I mean spend money to buy them and just watch them on YouTube?

Gotta be the dumbest thing I've heard. At the very least the dumbest thing I've heard this year.
I enjoy it, I live remote from my friends and family and its the closest I can come to sitting in your livingroom hanging out with friends gaming, ripping on each other if watched livestream. You can get to know the other viewers pretty well which makes the chat fun. I avoid the mega stars and all that chat spam. skip the ones on games I want to play for spoilers, best used for games you would never play yourself (for me : platformers, scary games, rogues, certain strategy games way above my intelligence/patience level) or to get thru tough areas of a game you are playing.

to me its just another aspect of gaming


back to the OP, I forgot to add that I package up my handmade notes for hard games to save for the next time, they are invaluable, but sometimes I cant understand my scribbles lol
Post edited December 19, 2017 by mintee
Posted December 19, 2017
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Matewis: In games like Morrowind especially with its atrocious journal I find it necessary to make important quest notes myself.
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real.geizterfahr: Yep. Morrowind is a pretty huge game and there's a good chance that you'll take a longer break from it at one point (busy with life, playing other games, whatever). If you don't have any notes when you return to the game, you're screwed.

I basically wrote my own journal for Morrowind with all interesting clues from NPCs, things I already did or still have to do for a quest, places that I already visited or still have to visit, etc. Would've been great if I had written this like a diary... ould've been pretty awesome to read a diary of one of your playthroughs a couple of years later.
I bought the book. It was very well written:

https://www.amazon.com/Morrowind-Prophecies-Official-Strategy-Guide/dp/0929843320

edit: Bought it twice n fact since I loaded it out and it was never returned.
Post edited December 19, 2017 by drmike
Posted December 19, 2017
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drmike: I bought the book. It was very well written:

https://www.amazon.com/Morrowind-Prophecies-Official-Strategy-Guide/dp/0929843320

edit: Bought it twice n fact since I loaded it out and it was never returned.
Strategy guides/walkthroughs don't work for me. They ruin the games I'm trying to play. When I have a strategy guide or walkthrough I pause the game every couple of minutes to read in advance what I have to do next, so that I don't miss anything. This totally kills the game. No more surprises, you always know the story before you play it, no feeling of success when you did something "special". This book would turn "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind" into "Morrowind Strategy Guide: The Game" -.-
Posted December 19, 2017
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nightcraw1er.488: When are games going to play themselves, well it was around 2015 with the rise of YouTube. Now most just watch others play games on YouTube with some dipshit commentary.
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OldFatGuy: That's gotta be the dumbest damned thing I've ever heard. Do they also buy the games? I mean spend money to buy them and just watch them on YouTube?

Gotta be the dumbest thing I've heard. At the very least the dumbest thing I've heard this year.
I just finally bought Kerbal and I suck at it. Watching Youtube videos is pretty much the only way I can understand how to do things in the game.
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real.geizterfahr: Strategy guides/walkthroughs don't work for me.
For me, it was the scope of the game. I;m one of those silly completeists and have to do everything in it.

I also played Arena back in college and never got any where in it.
Post edited December 19, 2017 by drmike
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Community
General discussionKeeping notes during data dense games?(67 posts)(67 posts)
(67 posts)