To Blue Garter and Who is really Hardcore on endgame content

[mbncd]

I tried watching guides for things in 1.xx content but they tended to be confusing. The camera would often move around too fast for me to really be able to get my bearing, I couldn't tell from a glance who was what or what they were doing, I couldn't learn to recognise the Ifrit "rock" that healers were supposed to stand on, etc. On top of that, reasons for why to do things and when were rarely explained, or they relied on knowledge from outside of their video (like I didn't know what "plumes" were). When that didn't work out, I tried reading guides instead, but that posed it's own problems.

In the end, I found that just going in blind and trying until I succeeded made everything make a lot more sense. That was the only way I could really learn the fights and it worked, although it was slower than others who seemed able to watch/read a guide once and instantly become pros. Yes, I died, a lot. As did others. But we became progressively better, without the pressure of being a progressive group on the cusp of every new item or piece of content.

Trying to understand guides before even trying the content tended to make it more intimidating, confusing, frustrating and generally less fun. The first time I see something impressive should not be on a tiny 400 pixel wide box with people talking to me in another window at the same time, it should be an immersive and awe inspiring event the way it was designed to be.

When I was a kid, we used guides to figure out what the heck we were supposed to do with this specific item or that person who wouldn't do/say what we needed to to progress in the game, or to find missed items in subsequent play throughs. You did not read a guide before first playing the game and getting the full impact of everything the first time, along with the frustration and pride of trying to get past obstacles yourself. That wasn't how guides were designed to be used, nor how games were designed to be played. You got a little paper book with questions and blocked out answers that magically revealed themselves under the transparent red strip of the clue card. You found where you were stuck in the game, you found the answer for that puzzle/boss/whatever and then you closed the book and went back to it. While you may not have beaten the game for the first time in a single afternoon, you got enjoyment and satisfaction from playing. You talked to characters you didn't need to and were exposed to a lot of jokes you'd have never seen playing by guide. You understood why you were doing what you were doing. You made choices that meant that the way you played probably wasn't the same as the way your best friend played, which lead to conversations about things each other had missed or how you figured out what to do at certain points. The end was just the end. So what if you saved the princess or got the riches, it was the journey that got you there that was the fun part.

I really think the late 80s to late 90s was the golden age of gaming. The days of Sierra and Lucas and Apogee and Squaresoft and all the greats. Yes, they were single player games for the most part, but they were games you cared about.

Now it seems that all anyone cares about is the loot that they race to get, then they complain that they have to race to get it when they get bored with repeating the same content again and again without breaks to get it, then complain there's nothing to get, then they throw it away the day after the next patch comes out and repeat what they've already proven doesn't satisfy them, without pacing themselves or the content to cover the period they know will need filling out until the next major patch. All the while, almost no one knows anything about the world around them, they don't listen to NPC's, they don't explore, they don't learn things for themselves other than the rote rotations that others have already come up with, they say there's no point in experimenting, they don't have any fun for more than one day out of the week and they seem generally quite miserable, yet continue to play as if it were a drug that they don't want but can't live without.

That's not fun. That's not how to play a game. That's self punishment, an insult to themselves and to the game. That's "I need this and I need it now!" instead of a simple "I want to have fun now," which is what games are about. I just wish people would try to have fun again instead of making it into a job that becomes something to dread, something to escape from rather than escape to. There's a lot of comedy in this game. There are lots of things to do and see and experience off the beaten path. The compulsion to leech every bit of fun out of a piece of content is only self destructive.

Blow Titan a kiss the next time you fight him. Talk to others about the strategies that YOU came up with and would like to try. Stand for a few minutes watching suicidal level 2 ladybugs and squirrels practically stampede to their deaths at the feet of level 35 guards. Rewatch old cutscenes to see what you missed. Purposely go into lower level content without your fancy over levelled gear (which will be less effective than appropriately levelled gear) just to try to improvise what to do without the skills you're used to or to try to beat your own times or to fill out your vanity options for 2.2. Improvise different rotations of skills while soloing or duoing with your chocobo. Try to figure out what crafting moves are best used when and why (do you like free Hasty Hands to build up Byregots or the more reliable but expensive Basic Touch?). If you're in an FC with a house, try doing things with that, like getting creative with colours and themes or being more rigid for utility to make sure that you have specific rooms for specific things and that those rooms have the right number of chairs, etc. Take a minute out of your day and write a mail to someone, thanking them for helping you when you were a newbie or asking a newbie how they've been since you helped them with something.

Those sorts of things may not get you that next piece of trophy gear as fast but maybe you can get it tomorrow and have fun today. Maybe it doesn't have to be a race. Maybe it can be fun if you change things up a little. Heck, maybe you can even go back and play some of the old single player games and rediscover what gaming was like before it became a job all about the end result rather than enjoying the journey.