"Oh, Mediocre Game, I Just Can't Quit You!"

[Satan's Onion]

So lately I've been playing a lot of this one game called Nostalgia. I can just run around and level up, grind for skill points, go buy stuff, go do sidequests, and occasionally advance the plot for hours at a time if I let myself.

The thing is though...it's not that great a game. The sidequests and battle mechanics are kind of ehhhh, the environments are uninspired, the music doesn't really stir my soul, and the dialogue is frankly awful. (There're four main characters--an upper-class Brit, a lower-class Brit, a Frenchwoman, and someone who turns out to be from the realm of the gods. But when they don't all sound like precisely the same modern American teenager, they have Chrono Cross-level text "accents". I seriously think I could write better than this game.)

But I just don't want to stop playing it...and I don't have the faintest idea why. Has anyone else ever had something like that happen--where a game just kind of keeps you playing despite the fact that objectively, you know it's kinda crap?

[Melfice]

Yeah.
It's called being employed. *rimshot*

Seriously though, I know the feeling.
Honestly, I've got a number of games that are just shitty, but every once in a while, I fire it up, do a few rounds/levels/whatevers, and then feel completely satisfied.
And then it's back to the srs bsns of the AAA games and the likes.

[Fifthfiend]

Originally Posted by Satan's Onion

So lately I've been playing a lot of this one game called Nostalgia.

Originally Posted by Satan's Onion

I can just run around and level up, grind for skill points, go buy stuff, go do sidequests, and occasionally advance the plot for hours at a time if I let myself.

Originally Posted by Satan's Onion

playing a lot of this one game called Nostalgia.

Originally Posted by Satan's Onion

The sidequests and battle mechanics are kind of ehhhh, the environments are uninspired, the music doesn't really stir my soul, and the dialogue is frankly awful.

Originally Posted by Satan's Onion

this one game called Nostalgia.

Originally Posted by Satan's Onion

But I just don't want to stop playing it...and I don't have the faintest idea why. Has anyone else ever had something like that happen--where a game just kind of keeps you playing despite the fact that objectively, you know it's kinda crap?

Originally Posted by Satan's Onion

Nostalgia.

I can't be the only one seeing the gag here.

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by Fifthfiend

I can't be the only one seeing the gag here.

I don't get it.

What gag?

[Ramary]

Originally Posted by Krylo

I don't get it.

What gag?

Nostalgia for something basically clouds your judgement on something. So if you say, played a crappy game in your youth where just playing a game was the bee's knees, going back to it after playing billions of other games you kinda feel it is not all that great, but enjoy it anyway because it reminds ya of THE GOOD OL DAYS.

I guess that is the gag.

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by Ramary

Nostalgia for something basically clouds your judgement on something. So if you say, played a crappy game in your youth where just playing a game was the bee's knees, going back to it after playing billions of other games you kinda feel it is not all that great, but enjoy it anyway because it reminds ya of THE GOOD OL DAYS.

I guess that is the gag.

Nope. Still not registering.

[Jagos]

Originally Posted by Krylo

Nope. Still not registering.

Someone likes other m for being an old game with good gameplay, but horrid story pacing and plotting.

[Pip Boy]

Originally Posted by Krylo

Nope. Still not registering.

There are an assload of games we buy on release nowadays that are objectively pretty shitty, but they're the next Mario game so we can't not get them because of nostalgia we feel for older mario games which, when viewed by our current standards, are also really shitty. This is a game called nostalgia that incorporates a lot of shitty gameplay elements but people play it anyway.[/Joke]

[mauve]

Ah yes, addiction to mediocre games. My sister and I call this phenomenon the Dynasty Warriors Syndrome. I can't for the life of me describe why button mashing SQUARE SQUARE SQUARE TRIANGLE SQUARE SQUARE TRIANGLE TRIANGLE TRIANGLE over and over, and watching endless armies of idiotic AI walk directly into you without really attempting to fight you makes DW Extreme Legends 5 fall under any definitiopn of "fun." There's really no strategy involved once you level up your character, the voice acting is atrocious, 90% of the missions don't actually require you to follow your commander's orders as long as you kill enough enemies to keep them from accomplishing anything noteworthy (which is incredibly easy, as they all basically line up in front of you and pace back and forth for a good 3-5 seconds before attempting any kind of attack) and they hand out musou coins like candy on Halloween. Yet I still love it for some reason.

[Oron]

Originally Posted by Mauve Mage

Ah yes, addiction to mediocre games. My sister and I call this phenomenon the Dynasty Warriors Syndrome. I can't for the life of me describe why button mashing SQUARE SQUARE SQUARE TRIANGLE SQUARE SQUARE TRIANGLE TRIANGLE TRIANGLE over and over, and watching endless armies of idiotic AI walk directly into you without really attempting to fight you makes DW Extreme Legends 5 fall under any definitiopn of "fun." There's really no strategy involved once you level up your character, the voice acting is atrocious, 90% of the missions don't actually require you to follow your commander's orders as long as you kill enough enemies to keep them from accomplishing anything noteworthy (which is incredibly easy, as they all basically line up in front of you and pace back and forth for a good 3-5 seconds before attempting any kind of attack) and they hand out musou coins like candy on Halloween. Yet I still love it for some reason.

I can echo this (I think Empires might be more fun). The worst part is that I heard about DW 7 and I didn't even consider the possibility of not getting it (eventually).