What's a game you don't play for a stupid reason?

[Enjay]

Surely Half-Life 2 can make the cut? It's very much a game of my time (I was 14 upon release), but I genuinely think it's one of the greats. It's probably close to my cut-off point though, similar to your cut off at Quake 3-based games.

For me HL2 was one of the "I don't care about this stuff any more" games.

I always thought that it was better than Doom 3 as a game (but my opinion of Doom3 is pretty poor, so it's a low bar). So much of HL2 was, IMO, just tedious: the (seemingly) endless, badly handled driving sections; the puzzles that really only existed as demonstrations of their cool new physics engine etc etc etc.

And Steam! Dear lord! HL2 was my first exposure to that and, as a result, completely unannounced (it wasn't mentioned on the first-release box that Steam was required - you only found out during the install), it required an online account, took hours to install, to update, to verify and to simply let me play the feckin' game that I had bought a physical copy of and was holding in my hands. And then, every time I played, I had to log in and receive permission to play.

I am still very anti-steam and all DRM platforms of that type, still do not have Steam on my machine and HL2 - in my head - is indeed very much a game that captures that time; the time that many games simply became bloated, DRM-loaded, disappointing crap - all "waxy looking" textures, slow pondering movement, uninspired stories, bad gameplay and generally dull disposable nonsense. For me, HL2 is the poster boy, the flagship, for that time and it is inextricably linked with that watershed moment. I don't play HL2 any more (I haven't since I completed my one and only full play through), but I don't consider those stupid reasons - which is why I didn't mention it earlier.

[Darkcrafter]

Yeah the time was cool, but I recently reinstalled HL2 and how much I hated it! In order to go further one have to carry bricks, barrels and do other sorts of things just to see how "great" their physics engine is. The AI is super stupid. Just a techdemo piece of nothing. But at time I was 12, I managed to play the game 4 years later after its release, I really loved this game.

[sinisterseed]

- Any game requiring high end hardware because I am bankrupt. They're too expensive usually as well, not to mention the costs of said hardware, and I cannot justify the expense, especially if it's for only one game - HL Alyx would be a perfect example here, yeah, I am not spending some $10K on VR hardware to play a single game, no thanks.

I can appreciate that, especially from back when I was younger. Would you go back and play those demanding games once commodity hardware is capable of playing them or would the moment have passed?

I've used VR stuff before at a mates houser and while I admit it wasn't calibrated properly for me, I got quite nauseous during gameplay. So yeah, not overly keen on buying all that gear just to feel sick, which is disappointing because I love Half-Life! I hope this mod can mature into something usable for non-VR users wanting to play Alyx.

Oh wow, I go missing one day and the page count doubles, heh.

The answer to the question would be yes and no. What I was doing back then as a kid was buying games I could NOT run on sale, by thinking very far into the future that one day I am going to upgrade anyway and I will be able to play them on whatever is going to fall into mid-range territory/be affordable at the time. It's what I did with games such as Witcher, Crysis, Skyrim, MK9, Darkness II, Bioshock, the Batman Arkham games (Fuck YES ), and so on, it's glorious to experience everything I wanted so many years ago, but never could because of hardware limitations and budget constrains.

However, it also depends insofar as I've noticed my interest tends to go away after a certain amount of time, or the games just age very poorly, so I may not try to revisit these games in the future because they no longer interest me for one reason or another. It's all situational tbh. That being said, I think some games will forever be out of reach unless I manage to get rich somehow. I am dead sure I am not going to be playing Alyx on my own hardware any time soon whatsoever, I don't have 10K to spend on gaming hardware, it would be an absolute waste. I'd rather deposit that money to slowly work towards my goal of finally being able to move to my own house one day. I also can't see that game working in a non-VR environment, too much of that game was designed for VR - the puzzles and combat would just stink without such a setup.

Also not surprised to see quite a few people hating HL either, it seems to be somewhat common on retro gaming communities for one reason or another these days. It's still one of my favorite franchises, and I think the games have aged wonderfully for the most part. The only one I don't think has aged too well in parts would be HL2. I agree, the Airboat chapters have not aged well, they're too much products of their time, but apart from that I think the games are still solid, if perhaps HL2 being the sole exception that is dragging on a bit for too long. This is why nowadays I prefer Episode 1 and 2 since they're more exciting to play and much shorter.

Speaking of the vehicle sections of HL2, or rather, the car physics, the Buggy was never meant to be an awesome car to drive, you drive it because you have to, and its turbo has specific use scenarios - jumping over gaps, and not for "lulz I'm Gordon Speedman". Don't be surprised to see it go bonkers in other situations , the car physics here were never meant to be fantastic, or rival with other racing games. And yes, I am pretty convinced that this is why it was not much fun in HL2, even though Valve was perfectly capable of doing the opposite, as demonstrated with the Muscle Car in Episode 2, which is a whole lot more stable and fun to drive around. Apart from that, the gunplay, AI, etc, I think they aged just fine in the series - and the AI is still better than what you get from some games these days. HL2 is definitely more than a glorified tech demo, all things in this game, at least to me, feel a lot like they serve a purpose, as opposed to just be there for the sake of showing engine capabilities. And you know what? If you want that - a glorified tech demo -, guess what, you can actually have it, it's called Lost Coast, and mods such as Missing Information even recreate the techdemo/E3 levels, along with more beta elements.

Now about DRM, since this was also brought up... I have mixed feelings here. What I hate about it, as with most things, is that it inevitably caused others to launch their own digital delivery services, expected and logical, sure, but there's just far too many of them now and I definitely have a limit which was already reached for how many of them I am willing to use. I guess the dream of having all your games in one place was just that, a dream, and too idealistic...

[wildweasel]

I would voice my opinion here but I'll immediately receive a ban, but in overal if this happens the same way you'll get huge problems there and then try to guess the scapegoats again. What's regarding German servers I always found them having ridiculous rules like if you have a chopper you may not fire a tv missile, while it's chopper's main function. Rules are cool but there seems to be the only nation that is overobsessed by them - Germans and let it be so except that apparently these rules are never a subject of change or discussion there? It's like just rules are there for the sake of them just being there no matter how well thought they are. When this artificial reality collapses with life the problems begin.

... What in the hell?

[Enjay]

Now about DRM, since this was also brought up... I have mixed feelings here. What I hate about it, as with most things, is that it inevitably caused others to launch their own digital delivery services, expected and logical, sure, but there's just far too many of them now and I definitely have a limit which was already reached for how many of them I am willing to use. I guess the dream of having all your games in one place was just that, a dream, and too idealistic...

I actually think that Microsoft dropped the ball on that one. When Steam started to emerge, and it became obvious that it was going to be a success, and then other people started jumping on the bandwagon with their own "solutions", it would have been much better, IMO, if there had been one good solution properly integrated into Windows. Steam has become used by many game producers, not just Valve, but it is still just one company's add-on (as are the other ones) and it sits on top of Windows as a non-standard interface by a third party. I feel that if MS had come up with a good interface themselves, then companies would have just made their releases compatible with the Windows distribution system (whatever it would have been) rather than have the proliferation of platforms that we have seen.

And yes, I get all the arguments about how that could be seen as OS "bloatware", how you might not want M$ ( ) in charge of your games, it wouldn't be a thing on Mac or Linux and Microsoft obviously haven't got a good handle on how to do something like this because the MS Store is awful and I'm not even sure that I would be happy with it on my machine but if a good unified, seamless solution could have been integrated into Windows it might, might just have been better. Maybe.

Either way, I still think MS dropped the ball because, even if it wouldn't have been better from a user perspective, surely it's exactly the kind of thing that MS try to be in charge with and they're clearly not the leaders in that particular field: Valve and Steam are. I'm surprised that they don't want a piece of that pie. In fact, usually they aren't happy with just a piece; they want the whole pie.

[sinisterseed]

Now about DRM, since this was also brought up... I have mixed feelings here. What I hate about it, as with most things, is that it inevitably caused others to launch their own digital delivery services, expected and logical, sure, but there's just far too many of them now and I definitely have a limit which was already reached for how many of them I am willing to use. I guess the dream of having all your games in one place was just that, a dream, and too idealistic...

I actually think that Microsoft dropped the ball on that one. When Steam started to emerge, and it became obvious that it was going to be a success, and then other people started jumping on the bandwagon with their own "solutions", it would have been much better, IMO, if there had been one good solution properly integrated into Windows. Steam has become used by many game producers, not just Valve, but it is still just one company's add-on (as are the other ones) and it sits on top of Windows as a non-standard interface by a third party. I feel that if MS had come up with a good interface themselves, then companies would have just made their releases compatible with the Windows distribution system (whatever it would have been) rather than have the proliferation of platforms that we have seen.

And yes, I get all the arguments about how that could be seen as OS "bloatware", how you might not want M$ ( ) in charge of your games, it wouldn't be a thing on Mac or Linux and Microsoft obviously haven't got a good handle on how to do something like this because the MS Store is awful and I'm not even sure that I would be happy with it on my machine but if a good unified, seamless solution could have been integrated into Windows it might, might just have been better. Maybe.

Either way, I still think MS dropped the ball because, even if it wouldn't have been better from a user perspective, surely it's exactly the kind of thing that MS try to be in charge with and they're clearly not the leaders in that particular field: Valve and Steam are. I'm surprised that they don't want a piece of that pie. In fact, usually they aren't happy with just a piece; they want the whole pie.

Can't eat the cake and have it too I guess .

I think something similar could've happened on Linux and macOS as well, or whatever MS developed could've been cross-platform compatible, I dunno really. Steam took over rapidly simply because honestly, Valve just knew how do get it right, by actually investing time and effort into it to be a great distribution service and a welcoming place. Remember that a decade ago a lot of people despised the idea of having such a service in place because it was restrictive, but looking where we are now, I guess people liked Steam, didn't they? It was never going to take off if it was plain horrible, and barely worked half the time. Looking at the competitors, I'd say it's obvious who's the winner, and why, others tried with their downloaders and whatnot and all went down like a crashing plane, and those that did survive did so because of the games depending on them, and not because they are good by any means. That being said, Valve has definitely made questionable choices in the recent years for sure, the pinnacle being the transition from "owning" your products to "renting" them. Frankly I still don't fully understand the logic there.

Also a side effect of its success would be an influx of idiots, something you'll notice instantly if you browse some hubs and comments sections, community is pretty toxic nowadays, so I never go there. Welp, so much for having a nice place I guess lol.

As about the MS Store, well from my experience it isn't an absolute piece of crap as almost universally everyone describes it, it does its job for more simple programs and I've not run into issues with it myself, but it's horrible for video games and bigger/more complex software - even simply downloading said products is a challenge sometimes, is poorly structured, and looks like a mess.

[Taffinator]

Competitive - and I use that term sparingly - first person shooters.

They require far too much time and effort to play and continue to play. I'm at a point in my life I want to play games at my own pace, not running around 360 no scoping people.
Last one I played with any conviction was CS:GO. Got to Gold Nova 2 before I realised I was getting fat too stressed. It's the reason I have not touched Overwatch, PUBG, APEX Legends, etc. My online time is limited. I'd rather play games that are enjoyable rather than have to grind/practice/newest.

[Chris]

I actually think that Microsoft dropped the ball on that one. When Steam started to emerge, and it became obvious that it was going to be a success, and then other people started jumping on the bandwagon with their own "solutions", it would have been much better, IMO, if there had been one good solution properly integrated into Windows.

Considering Microsoft had recently come off of an anti-trust lawsuit over how it bundled and integrated things like Internet Explorer, preventing fair competition for other browsers, I'm not sure making a built-in digital storefront to push the other competitors out before they had a chance to cement themselves in the market would've gone over very well. As it was, people complained about Valve having a monopoly on digital game sales throughout the mid/late 00s and early 10s, Microsoft taking that heat onto themselves just after what they went through would've likely reignited those problems for them.

[Graf Zahl]

And let's not forget that any monopolist has total control over content. We see that with Apple and iOS - they can demand in absolute terms how apps are to be made and abuse this to make it difficult to port software to competing platforms and they can censor apps as they like without much of a chance for the content creators to fight it. No, we definitely would not have wanted this on Windows. Steam was bad enough already, but back then with Ballmer at the helm, Microsoft was indeed an Evil Empire, they would have abused their power to hell and back and beyond.

[Rayman The Hedgehog]

For me, it's Shadow Warrior.
Honestly, is the most weak of all Build Engine games in terms of level design, the mouselook is shitty and Lo Wang is a character with a soulless design

[Redneckerz]

I never cared about HL2 because of DRM, and since nothing about that situation has changed, my attitude towards it hasn't either - especially since Valve has never offered an uncensored version to German customers. So they can kiss my ass, I won't purchase it.

Ill have to confess here - I have the original HL for 7-8 years now, and recently purchased HL2 on a flea sale - And yet have never played any of these.

Its why i usually abstain from discussing them - I simply have no personal experience from them. I do recognize that these titles are hugely influential in more ways than one - Its just that when i read people discuss it, i can't exactly ''connect''.

I played Timesplitters Future Perfect on PS2. Does that count? (Amazing game, by the way. Both in terms of humoristic setting and the fact it had an amazing level editor on all the console versions. Definitely a cult title.)

Doom 3 counts as one of the biggest disappointments ever, it was so boring and annoying that at some point while getting into one particularly annoying trap I just quit and never resumed.

The thing with Doom 3 is that it was (and is) so far removed from the Doom gameplay that came prior that the name sake is just unfortunate. Doom 3 is basically a what-if scenario if you made Doom more Resident Evil slow paced horror and mixed that up with Half-Life esque story telling.

Some parts work, but its clear that Doom 3 by its nature is very, very different. - Angry Hellspawn Simulator would be a better name.

Quake 4 was the last game I got before the DRM mess started. It was a particularly extreme case of the 'shooter-on-a-rail' syndrome. No backtracking, no choice of actions, The doors opened in scripted order so that everything was carefully predetermined. But this time I wasn't able to finish because one of those stupid vehicle sequences broke in a way that I was unable to resume, even with cheating.
After that I lost interest in modern games, as the visuals got ever more photorealistic.

I actually have that, for the X360 - Yes, that infamously unoptimized version where framerates can be 60 or as low as 10. It was more of a novelty purchase. Surprisingly, the copy i got contained the often sought Quake 2 physical release - Normally they are sold seperately, despite originally being bundled. So that was a lucky draw.

Its quite an amazing port, though - Has optimization custom made for the X360 hardware, Supporting HD resolutions up to 1080p back when even the Xbox 360 was incapable of doing so (Required a firmware update). And it runs perfectly smooth at 60 fps - Its one of the better ways to play the game on console. An obscure, but great port of the game.

What's some key Windows software you can't do without? Agreed about the idealogy and don't care at all about it, right tool for the job always.

I am only using it since late last year, but Notepad++ - How did i never use this before. The tabbed text mechanic (So multiple text files in tabs) and the fact it keeps them all in memory has been a literal game changer for me,and has seen tremendous use here for Doom aswell. Without it, my output would be significantly slower - And its really flexible aswell. I see it often recommended by coders too, and i never thought much of it - But now i get it why they recommend it. Its great software.

I would voice my opinion here but I'll immediately receive a ban, but in overal if this happens the same way you'll get huge problems there and then try to guess the scapegoats again. What's regarding German servers I always found them having ridiculous rules like if you have a chopper you may not fire a tv missile, while it's chopper's main function. Rules are cool but there seems to be the only nation that is overobsessed by them - Germans and let it be so except that apparently these rules are never a subject of change or discussion there? It's like just rules are there for the sake of them just being there no matter how well thought they are. When this artificial reality collapses with life the problems begin.

.... I assume you are referring to German software versions, like Green blood in Wolfenstein or censored stuff in GTA. But why stating that would be banworthy? The bolded in particular makes the least amount of sense to me - And i reckon it does for many others, like Weasel prior. I have no idea what this is supposed to convey.

For me, it's Shadow Warrior.
Honestly, is the most weak of all Build Engine games in terms of level design, the mouselook is shitty and Lo Wang is a character with a soulless design

I guess you are no Wang, then. Have you tried out the 2013 reboot and its 2017 sequel?

[Hexereticdoom]

Well, frankly I used to love all of the Metroid and Castlevania titles on SNES and GBA platforms, they were cool and entertaining as hell... BUT, since I discovered a really absurd map flaw design in Castlevania - Circle Of The Moon, my passion for that game fell apart like blowing a castle made of playing cards...

Once, and because of that stupid bug, I completely lost a game in which everything was going almost perfectly, I had a lot of objects, weapons and special cards collected, and suddenly I accidentally went through that kind of fake wall/ceiling and found myself totally blocked in that -normally- non-accessible area. So, I was forced to reload a previous save point, but the damage was already done and certain items and achievements were lost forever... And since then, I haven't played that title again. I have not had any desire to do it. How is it possible that such a glitch was not detected by the betatesters?

Someone recorded this glitch in a gameplay long time ago, here you can check exactly the point where i got treacherously stuck:



Damn, what I would have given being able to enter the 'noclip' command just like in GZDoom when you get trapped with no exit on certain maps... But that was not possible, obviously...

[Ex-jogador]

I don't play FIFA. I'd much rather watch than play it.

[kinker31]

I've never really gotten into Doom or Quake's Deathmatches, mostly because I heard that most people there have played it for so long the skill gap might as well be a ravine a continent apart. Partly from the words of someone else who had posted on this topic before: it is not fun connecting into a server and then immediately getting blasted into inner orbit by some guy who managed to throw about 15 rockets in your general direction and in about every single direction you could go. At least with Team Deathmatch, you could at least somewhat trust your mates to take down the other team, given my paltry experience with TF2, but normal Deathmatch? Almost everyone wants to take a crack at your head, and if you're not absolutely up to date with all the strats and metagames, you're just gonna fucking die.

I refuse to play Smash Melee for much of the same reason, only replace "15 other crazed hopping maniacs pumping a jgfdhillion rockets into your head before you even get out of the spawn" with "2-3 crazed hopping maniacs bashing you right into 300%+ before you even get to use any of your attacks, plus the chance you could be dealing with someone who has someone that can preform a 'press this button combo to lock your opponent in a hurt-loop that you can stop at any time you want' move that's somehow fucking okay in almost every tournament that hosts the game".

Come to think of it, I don't want to play any competitive game for this very reason. How am I supposed to "git gud" If I keep dying so early and so much, I've probably spent 3 matches in a row dying before I even get to control my character?

[CeeJay]

Half-Life, the first one.

I bought a physical copy of it (DVD i believe) way back when, only to find out that it was a Steam release (in the early days of this service) requiring you to sign up and register to unlock and play the game. On the disc I already had. The disc I had physically bought in a store. This together with the fact that I lacked a stable internet-connection at the time made this practise seem like complete and utter BS to me.

Which is why I shudder every time I hear mention of Steam and want nothing to do with it.