Gaming frustration & me

I always thought I was a bad gamer.

Thinking about it, my parents have told me that when I was very young I had great patience. I could sit with one thing and just wait for however long it took. I was very focused, very into it. It is THE one trait that has followed me into adulthood and has been a real saviour in real life. Actually it has probably saved my life as a gamer as well.

But allow me to get back to my point.

There are so many games I'm bad at. I'm completely irretactical (yes I made that up) and like to rush action ala quake style or bullestorm. Simply fast pace, easy action.

And so for the longest time I believed easy was my difficulty of choice. And that RPGish games that carry a story I can ejoy was my fancy.

And then Demon's Souls came along.

When I began playing Demon's Souls I was beyond horrible. I died so many times but I kept going, for those who do not know this game, the enemies get tougher every time you die. It forced me into a situation I hadn't really faced before.

There was no easy mode.

But I had to have some kind of ground to stand on so I turned to the internet, reserarched the game, the moves and I started to slowly get the hang of it.

Whenever frustration grows a bit to big for me I still cling to the internet for help, or to friends who also played the game. But I try it a few times myself first.

At some point later on I picked up the PC game Leauge of Legends, and as I suspected I was rubbish. However using my newfound ability to analyse and to break down things and with extra dedication I was able to understand the game more and more. I'm far from professional in my gamig but it's looking brighter already.

For the sequel to Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, I invested many hours into pre-researching. And playing Demon's Souls again to recap my skillset. And when it came I was more then ready.

I can't say it was easy, but I had a much harder time beating the first game. Slowly things started to click into place.

It's not the story and it's not the type of game. What get's me boils down to a few simple things: Immersion, Challenge and Competition.

A few hours ago I finished Catherine's single player campaign on normal. Easy was even adviced for people new to the game but I didn't want anything else. Hard would be over the top for me but I might tackle it now that I have beaten the game and gotten used to very many of the mechanics.

For those who do not know, Catherine is a puzzle-platformer survival horror adventure game with a wicked romance story.

It's gameplay reminds me of what would be a hybrid between Q-bert and some block pusher game. Mixed in with some story that mostly takes place in the main characters apartment or at the bar
"The Stray sheep".

It's a strange game, no kidding!

And it can be hard as hell.

I don't think I ever had to retry a section of a level more then maye thirty times (I see that as a win BTW). It's fast and frantic and you will probably be really mad at some points but it keeps you on the edge and you can clearly see your progress all the time.

Block by block you learn how it all fits together and what techniques to use and when to use them. By the end you'll almost start thinking the puzzles in real life, very amusing.

I've picked up the habit (mostly because it's fun). To sometimes when two things connect, say the word "Edge". Like when I put down a glass of water on the table.

It's similar to my habit of telling people a storyline from a game when they ask me what I did today. Something like, "Oh nothing big, I just teamed up with some Ninja turtles and kicked some evil guy's ass back to his own dimension".

Bare with my humor, I find it funny when people don't get it. But the best part is when people do. In both cases you can discuss wherever the idea sprung from. "WHAT! you haven't seen Turtles?" or "Do you remember that episode? ... bla bla".

With that being saind I reccomend Catherine to any gamer who wants a fun challenge. The game can be pretty forgiving if you let it. On normal mode there are places you can basically herd extra lives.

I have very ambivalent feelings about this.

On one side it's great because you don't have to get so frustrated, on the other side if you'r like me you will be tempted to grab it just to avoid frustration. This takes away a lot of the inherent difficulty.

But with a game as chaotic as this I think makes up for it by far.

Catherine
8.5/10

Signed, Mireneye