DoctorThrift

Not a whole lot to say right now. Always searching for some good Puzzle and/or Platform Games. Even with the consoles I own, it’s difficult to find games that are … well … “difficult” – but in the right way. Games that REALLY Challenge you – where success actually feels REWARDING. So many games out there littered with thousands of collectibles in a 200-Hour Fetch Quest in a visually stunning world, with hours of cinematography [some of which you can’t even skip – which is REALLY ANNOYING]. Sick of the “Story”. Seriously? – If I want a Good Story, I can go to Books & Movies. I want a GAME. NOT some interactive movie that would lose money in theaters because … well … it’s AWFUL for a “Movie”. Also: Sick of hearing people label certain games as “Nintendo Hard”, notwithstanding infinite lives & tons of checkpoints. The latter CANNOT BE IGNORED. “NES Hard”: 3 Lives, find some Extra Lives if you can, maybe get a Continue or 2, which sets you back some … essentially, you can play through virtually an entire game, for 5-6 hours, and whilst fighting the last boss, die … and … well – last life. GAME OVER. Back straight to the beginning. [No. Not ALL older games were like this – and classic RPGs like Zelda had Saves – but notwithstanding saves, the 2nd Zelda was REALLY HARD to beat – and I’ve went through it quite a few times, without any Badge and/or Achievement to incentivize me. Can’t seem to get back into that child-like “play-game-without-any-virtual-reward”. Besides: Because of Auto-saving and Online Play and whatever else nowadays, it’s difficult to make a game REALLY HARD without adding Trophies/Achievements that add not only Replay Value, but bring back that Hardcore Die & Try Again, rinse & repeat. Of course, there’s a TON of trophies/achievements on consoles that are just plain stupid – that, or they involve countless hours of collecting hundreds of “marbles” or “coins” scattered all over a world – boring, boring, boring. No. I’m talking about the Games whose Trophy/Achievement Set are utterly skill-based [e.g. Beat Every Level without Dying, Beat every level within “such-and-such” Time Frame, Reach Survival Level 10, etc.] – which are the only ones that are really worth it, and the only ones that will encourage learning & getting better & working the brain muscles, if the game is a mind-bender. But I digress. I’ll come back to this. Later.