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Gotta appreciate you reminding me to get back to Balatro

Love the subject matter but you're talking like you're reading off a script and it's slowing down your cadence. Loosen up and try get your sentences out a little faster. Also back away from the mic, can hear a little too much.

One problem I've found when becoming a dad is that I've got less time to tinker around and experiment, so I'm resorting to guides a bit more to compensate for this lack of time. That, and some old games, particularly CRPGs and point and click adventures which i don't know how they would be beatable without some guidance, some gameplay aspects are just super cryptic.

bro spoiled balatro catch me in the crib

The ending was really nice and sweet, I wish I could reconnect with my dad

Tunic will change your life. The instruction booklet is the defining in game mechanic and the way it breaks down the relationship of "Game" and "Guide" is incredible

I've always been one to view guide use as cheating. My main exceptions are being hopelessly stuck for hours and being blatantly made to grind to proceed, both of which I consider bad game design. It's so deflating to be told of a passage I couldn't see or a puzzle solution that still doesn't make sense when revealed. Balatro hits the sweet spot most of the time, with only a handful of cases where I'd never understand a card without an external explanation like Matador. Just today I put a machine together that allowed me to earn the trophy for having an 80 card deck. Conversely, upon reflection on a loss an hour prior, I realized the easiest path to get down to 20 cards and to play 5 wild cards at once. The fact that I regularly have an epiphany while not even playing is pretty incredible.

I had the same experience with Hollow Knight, sadly i just kept using the guide for everything and ruined discovering a lot of content myself.

The animal crossing story was basically the saying, "gamers will min max the fun out of the game".

I went through pretty much the same journey with my usage of guides. Without them, the anxiety of missing something was taking the fun out of the game, but using the guide, did too. Nowadays, I google before playing if there are missable items, or multiple endings and the such, and kind of write myself a small guide that maked no sense before playing the game, but that (hopefully) will make sense once I reach those points on the progression. Going guideless wasn't the best option for me, but if hadn't tried it, I wouldn't have found the middle ground that makes me enjoy my games the most.

I love this account!

I clearly experience your FF9 story with Sekiro like i didn't know if i was doing things in good order or did i miss a important item ( i miss and doing things not in right order ) but i got this feeling of i'm not playing the game i'm following a sort of recipe. Also in persona 5 where i check who to lvl up bound first ( mishima for the exp for example ) and i was just following responses to get him on lvl 10 asap but i didn't really focus on his story but in P3R i used a guide at a second playthrough to get platinum trophy which was a greater experencie with the social link. A really good video that reinforce the feeling i had with my gaming experience with sekiro " play without a guide use it if you're really in need of it to progess or you're lost"

Great video, man! You deserve more subs.

The thing i enjoy about guides is that as a kid i used to get stuck on games without a way to advance in the story. It's bizarre to think how many times i replayed the intro of many games when i was a kid and got so much enjoyment out of them and now as an adult im rediscovering them and enjoying them in an entirely new way

Ugh, this looks like a subjective view being tried to be imposed on others... Stardew isnt stressful. You will always have next year, you can take things super slow, and the many things to do just makes the game not boring. I found outer wilds stressful and annoying, because your time IS actually limited in the loop you are currently in, and get something wrong, you have to do that crap all over again. Its a matter of what you like not what it actually is. SV is nice and relaxing for me and OW is stressful and annoying, at the same time, they are the complete opposite to you. Its a matter of personal preference.

For me, it truly depends on the game and the time of my life I’m playing it. I played dragon quest 11 guideless and loved it. I tried persona 5 without a guide and hated it. When I used a guide, I did everything - my only platinum trophy. I tried elden ring blind and got frustrated. When I used a guide,I played 140 hours and loved it until I got stuck. It’s all case by case

Hopefully it wasn't the Brady games play online guide. That crap sucked.

I recently played through Majora's Mask for the first time (it was too daunting for me as a kid) and I fell victim to the guides and it definitely robbed me of some of the atmosphere and story in the end. Oh well, next time!

It's extremely ironic that I find Stardew very relaxing, especially after returning to the game when I quit (due to thinking it would eat all my free time, which it does), for precisely the reasons you describe in the vid. That guides are just there to let you know, say, what gifts villagers like or what items are needed for bundles. Unlike some live service games you can take all the time in the world, even though it's inefficient or you might need to wait another season (the Traveling Card and Night Market are godsends for randomly making items available when you need them, same with the Greenhouse to a lesser extent where you can plant fruit trees and all kinds of crops in it), but just treating guides as references and playing at your own pace is wonderful. Playing a live service game (Arknights in my case) was extremely stressful because events disappear after a week or two and achievements (medals) similarly disappear. I hated that, I hated the need to clear a mission with perfect accuracy or I die and fail to get the achievement. Just sitting back and playing at your own pace is sorely needed in gaming at times. I noticed your earlier video is the exact opposite mindset but, as you point out, it's precisely because you set those time limits on yourself or aimed for optimization, and yes when you fail to optimize you can feel like a failure. Doesn't have to be that way though. Good video!

If you find SV stressful You might struggle with: ❤Anxiety 😵‍💫Perfectionism 😔Overdemanding yourself I say this from experience

Great video!

I feel like human beings optimise the fun out of most aspects of life. Capitalism encourages it. It’s why I bounced off Animal Crossing. It felt to much like my actual life. Grinding for money and wondering what the point of it all is.

A friend loaned me his copy of the Metal Gear Solid HD collection for PS3 recently and I've slowly been making my way through the franchise. Each game feels like a totally different experience from the one before it so far, and I'm currently playing through MGS3. Normally I'm too quick to look stuff up, but this time I'm just playing with my own skills and intuition. The only time I want any input, I ask my friend for his tips, and it feels like when I was a kid, sharing game knowledge on the playground. It's the most fun I've had with a game in quite some time.

Really good video. I appreciate your perspective on something I've felt for years but never was able to really put to words.

i guess i’m the complete opposite, i usually never use a guide, unless i’m literally stuck. xenoblade 2 players would usually tell you you should use a guide before playing since the tutorials are terrible and while they are indeed terrible, i never felt the need to use the guide and i feel like my enjoyment of the game was higher because of it. there’s some games that challenge me and make me wanna look up solutions so bad but i have pretty good self control not to.

Then there's the common problem where a 'meta' develops and becomes an echo chamber but it's just wrong. Then years later people find out something everyone thought was bad because somebody on youtube said it was is actually OP. Like how in smash everyone has some kind of vendetta against heavies and say characters are good or bad 'on paper' but it is totally disconnected from results. Like recently all of a sudden we're in the "DK meta" of smash after a guy wins a major tournament with DK who everyone said was a bottom tier character for literally two decades. Or in SSBU everyone was in agreement that pikachu is the best character in the game leagues above the others but only one pro guy plays him and he gets washed constantly by 'mid tiers' then blames the matchup.

Good vid. Subbed.

This is more or less the thought process that made me fall in love with, and platinum bloodborne, and get hooked to anything from the soul series. For a lot of folks, the games are too hard and frustrating and it dulls the experience. they don't want the aha moment of getting stuck and getting out of that stuck, or softlocked by a boss/area. They want to complete the game, and that's perfectly valid. When my friends told me to play it blind as possible (My homie definitely walked me through the forbidden woods, so not 100% blind), I wondered why they were so insistent, up until those Aha moments started kicking in. The first rush of being a boss that stomped me for months. The wait what? ayeeeee moment of finding a whole new area, and more gameplay to fight with off the beaten path. The sense of discovery of finding a weapon or strategy that I took with me the rest of the playthrough. Up until the soulsgames, I was a fighting game player/cheat code guide lover who wanted to find out what the community found, how to use and abuse it, and how to win. Soulsborne taught me how to immerse myself in a game again like my childhood, play around with my own thoughts and ideas vs a top ten's tricks and tips video. As an adult, I find a healthy medium (No not really I spent three days stuck on a puzzle in Signalis instead of finding a guide) of actually playing the game but not being scared to ask for help. Overall, tldr: I like this video. Screw guides, discover yourself and your game so you can connect with it more

stardew valley is more stressful than pikmin 2

I finish the game once without a guida and later on if I plan to get achievements or play it again I will use a guide. The only exception to me was Stardew Valley, that I beat first with a guide and my second and third playthrough were without a guide.

I generally agree, the temptation of looking up the best way to do something is huge. It's sad that we aren't ok with being stuck, to the point that we rob ourself from the feeling of figuring things out on our own. But I also recognize the good side of it. I remember not engaging in the food buff system of Stardew Valley because it seemed daunting, but the game got so much better once I did it.

I get it now. I’ve been playing Persona 5 blind and absolutely engaged with it so far. But when I played other stuff I’ve usually primed the experience with a tips and tricks video! Always wondered why I wasn’t getting in to stuff and it’s because I was constantly looking for the best / most optimised May to ‘experience’ the game rather than find out for myself!

The unyielding siren call of balatro joker tier lists calls me every moment I'm playing that game but I KNOW it'll ruin it for me. I KNOW it'll stop my fun knowing what I'm doing is sub optimal. Somebody save me

I've come to this same conclusion with guides over the last couple of years, but I've taken it another step further. I quit watching extensive coverage of upcoming games. I watch an official release trailer and maybe check a review or the first 30 minutes of a blind playthrough. I look for just enough info to know if I'll like a game enough to purchase it. I do this to keep as much of the game as possible free to discover myself. My exception is for large complicated games like Stellaris or Caves of Qud. Then I get really selective about what guides I look into. I only want something to help me understand the mechanics. If the guide is telling me META choices, I abandon it immediately and move on. But even in these more complicated games, you foster a stronger connection to a game if you struggle with it a bit before seeking outside help. Using both of these has helped me keep from continuing to bloat my game library as I spend more time with each game purchase. Nice video. Thanks for posting it.

Next up people discover they shouldn't always pick the easiest mode and use cheats

I learned this lesson funny enough with the same game! FF9 is one of my favs now and it holds a very special place in my heart

I watched this with persona 5 in mind, I am still wonder about the possibility of missing content. I do not want to optimize the fun out of my playthrough but I also don't want to miss any of that missable endgame content. I loved your video as a first time watcher and new subscriber, keep up the great work. And I do agree with the sentiment of going guideless in most cases.

Once I saw vivi in the thumbnail i HAD to click

this might be a sign for me to enjoy video games again, great vid man!

So I did complete the community center by spring year 2 (not within one year but close enough) but it was hard and stressful trying to get money, materials and making sure to get hearts with Seb. I tried doing it again with 1.6 update...and I didnt want to keep going by the end of summer cause of all I still had to do. So I restarted again with Meadowland Farm and I'm just playing at my own pace. I try to make sure I do things within each season that needs to be done for that season but if it doesnt specifically need to be done in that season then I dont sweat it. I'll get there when I get there. And I'm back in early summer, my axe, pick-axe and watering can is upgraded. I have the fiberclass rod. I have a full backpack, a coop (although that came with the farm) and I just got a barn and cows. I reached level 50 in the minds. I hope to get fish ponds soon for Sturgeon and Rainbow Trout. And upgrade my coop for ducks. And I hope to unlock the greenhouse by winter. I use to try to unlock the Desert in Summer to get Starfruit seeds but this time I'm gonna wait for year 2. It makes more sense to complete the mines first anyways.

Love this video. I had a similar experience on my first playthrough of BG3 where I would get super invested and play for 4-5 hours every day after work, then not touch the game for two weeks because it was stressing me out lol. I was so obsessed with making sure I made all the right choices and made all the correct optimizations that it kind of ruined it for me. I noticed this about midway through the second act, actually talked my way out of a boss I didn't realize was a boss, and then continued there without a guide. I think BG3 is a little interesting too because if you really want something to happen, you can always save scum, which is a really neat thing they removed in the hardest difficulty, but intentionally left in for the easier ones. I also had a similar experience with Metroid prime 3 growing up. My dad had a guide and I was just not enjoying the game. During covid I went back and completed it with no guide at all and I had such a blast figuring out all the little puzzles.

I keep feeling old as fuck when the new youtubers start saying stuff like, "...my DAD gave me some of HIS old ps1 games..."

How dare you not show us your New Horizons time! lol XD

Fantastic video. I relate so hard. Even though I always enjoy myself more when playing without a guide, I feel I still become addicted to them to an unhealthy degree. I struggle the most with JRPGS like Final Fantasy since I really want to collect everything and some stuff tend to be barred behind arbitrary barriers. Like “Choose this dialogue option for the best result” or “Don’t open this chest because 20 hours later you will get something better if you didn’t”. I also use guides way less when I play with friends. For some reason, I find failing something with friends more fun. When I’m playing a game on my lonesome, I get more afraid and anxious about failing. You’ve given me a lot to think about. Thank you.

Most of these games have so much content and so many random encounters that you can get overwhelmed and not be bothered to finish even if you do miss things.

Even as quite a degen achievement hunter I very much agree with this video!

This is why multiplayer games suck the life out of gaming, because if you decide to have fun and not go best practice, you will get punished by someone who does.

I appreciated the Void Stranger music ❤

You know what's stressful in Stardew? Wanting to get a mermaid's pendant and it's late Fall, not a single day of rain in sight until day 28

Stress in gaming is a product solely of the gamer's choice of the games out there. YOUR stress is in YOUR head, and it is not a trait of everyone's reality. Don't like a game or how you feel while you play it? Modify how you think about playing it or JUST MOVE ON.