Are there certain games you don't like to play because they remind you of something bad happening in
Just wondering. I have a few games that when I play them I remember I was going through a tough time in my life which includes depression and near nervous breakdowns. Even though I like the games it's tough to get the image out of my head.
Comments
I'm slowly playing them again though since my other son likes watching them too. He began to hold the P2 NES controller with me too.
Though honestly, there are also some that have helped me through these periods. NiGHTs into Dreams on Saturn (the very game I bought the system for) helped me through some depression and anxiety in my teen years. Very chill game, and I still enjoy it.
Off the top of my head is FFXIII. I got fired a few weeks before its release. Knowing money would be tough I wanted a game to keep me going for ages. Since I sucked at RPGs and it was talkable it made sense to get it.
Not games but songs of course.
This for me as well. Thankfully I don't have any memories that make games too difficult to play. All the games that I played during difficult points in my life are some of the few things that made those times bearable, so I don't associate anything bad with the game itself.
One example that comes to mind is Animal Crossing City Folk, which I played a lot at night the summer before I went to college when I was depressed and had insomnia. It kept me busy and when I was playing I wasn't really thinking all that much.
On the opposite end, Secret of Evermore still feels like Christmas to me. I regularly listen to the soundtrack around this time of year. :-)
To kind of take the topic a step further, I have games that I played during really terrible times that helped get me through those times and retain my sanity. My family had a really tragic event happen shortly after Christmas one year when I was a kid, and Super Mario Bros. 2 kept my brother and I sane. Everything and everyone around was going through a horrible depression, and SMB2 gave us something to keep our minds off of real life for a while. We had some other games too, but SMB2 was what we played 90% of the time.
To this day SMB2 reminds me of that time, but it reminds me of healing and getting over what happened. It doesn't depress me, it kind of reminds me of a shelter I had in a storm.
Thankfully not. I was playing through Ocarina of Time (N64 was still the current console) when my parents took my dog in to be euthanized. I didn't even know they were doing it, I just thought he was getting a checkup and then they came back with tears and her collar. It was the first pet that I had ever lost so it was a new feeling and I was absolutely broken that I couldn't continue. I was back to playing it though within a day or two. I don't think there will ever be a game that I would stop playing due to something bad happening at the same time. I don't play modern games too often and when I finish them I don't return to them anyway. The classics have so many good memories that even if I were playing through them while learning of terrible news I would still play them and cherish the good memories they bring.
Damn, that's a sad story. I know how you feel and went through the same thing. Parents took my first dog to the vet and when they came back I was playing Mario 3. I remember them being upset and saying something like "Turn it off, there are more important things in life then games" I didn't understand so I asked what was wrong and they said the dog had died. I realised at a later age that they probably had it euthanized.
I do support some indie titles, and I do purchase an occasionally eastern developed game. But most of my gaming budget goes to retro and retro only.
So, even though it's not really in line with the question, just the irritation of newer games makes me stray away from them.
Actually, It's newer games that I tend to not play. Politics thrown into my games for no discernable reason, DLC, flawed western game design, fake journalism influencing game development, always online design, and dying physical media? Yeah, no thanks.
I do support some indie titles, and I do purchase an occasionally eastern developed game. But most of my gaming budget goes to retro and retro only.
So, even though it's not really in line with the question, just the irritation of newer games makes me stray away from them.
We're in the same league. I noticed Even indie games sometimes make not-so-subtle allusions to political or other controversial themes that I wouldn't want someone from the 4chan culture or reddit generation to lecture me on. That would be like using Rotten.com to teach wholesome values. They go further with it in indie than even mainstreams, though neither are entirely innocent. Even indie games have that really dark and creepy postmodernist art style that still shows how skewered and fucked up western culture is in regards to tasteful aesthetics. Western cultural is more individualist to foster the indie scene but unfortunately still carries its nuances that I hate so much, despite admitting that even Japanese developers have their own cliches and pitfalls. I find the problem much more pronounced with the western devs though. If you even suggested a western artist of taste to emulate, such as Alphonse Mucha, you'd find out that it is much more preferable with asian audiences and that the new upcoming indie game shuns that in favor of emulating some obscure graphic novelist from New York who likes making fucked up comics about rape and torture while blessing us with his 'genius' style of combining 70s porn scenes with characters that look like Ron Jeremy rendered as Ren & Stimpy. Not good. I can't express how much I hate this kind of stuff, and honestly love to loath it.
I think the perfect example to highlight western indie titles, at least in my mind, is to put a spotlight on firewatch for a second. There's no gameplay, it's a commentary on divorce.. (who wants to play a game about someone's divorce? Jesus christ).. and it has that minimalist touch that most game designers are aiming for these days. I can't wrap my mind over content in western games anymore. They assume that the whole audience for titles now is adults.. when, in actuality, most children are playing generic FPS or third person shooter. Or these awful cash grab skylanders or disney infinity titles. At least games like Rayman exist.. but even then, it's not a western developed title. They're forgetting gameplay and actual game design these days.. and it makes me sad.
Pardon my geography, but I do think Europe as a whole (which would include France where Ubisoft is from, makers of Rayman) would be considered part of 'the west'. And yes, Rayman games are generally good. West includes Australia/New Zealand, Canada, Europe, and USA, for starters. The problem with western indies is the same problem that's plagueing indie rock, where in the past you could be eccentric and still be entertaining but now indie rock is self-important, stuffy, pretentious garbage. I have a friend who is pretty knowledgeable in the counter-cultural/punk/alt history, and grew up knee-deep into that kind of stuff in the 70s and 80s, and even he said that modern indie rock is boring crap and I do respect his wisdom and opinions. I am not really fond of the so-called 'art games' popping up, vs. traditional games with artistic aspects to them while not sacrificing the entertainment factor.