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Have your playstyle changed through the years?

Lupin3

Lupin3

Targeting terrorists with a D-Pad
When I was younger, in my teens/twenties and all that, I usually liked games like Final Fantasy 7 etc., and mainly role playing games with lots of dialogue. And the more CGI the better. The pace didn't bother me at all.

But now, I can't stand JRPGs at all. I hate almost everything about a stereotypical Japanese RPG. They have to be really special for me to enjoy them, like Corpse Party (horror). And I grow really impatience when a game has a too long of an intro. I just wanna press that button to skip it unless it's REALLY interesting. Before it was the longer the intro the better.

Nowadays (+30) it's almost all about quick fixes in shooters (Gears 3) and mobas (HotS) if I'm not challenging my brain in Portal 2.

Have you changed?
 
It have.

Nah, but seriously, I play games a lot slower than I used to. These days I like to take it at pace, soak in the environment and atmosphere, immerse myself, and roleplay, rather than always hold the run button down to make the fastest progress possible.
 
I used to only play shooters and racing games when I was an early teen. Now I mostly play JRPGs and Action Adventure games. I still play some shooters and racers, but not as much as before.
 
Not so much. I still love and play platformers, rhythm games and fighters and I still suck a them all. I still don't like RPGs, except for a few gems.
 
I used to mainly play Platformers and Shooters when I was younger, but now I've gotten a little tired of shooters and havent really been gotten around to buying some platformers I was interested in yet. Nowadays I've gotten into JRPGs and Fighters even though I wasn't really interested in them before.
 
I used to play RPGs that were mostly crap and were in just for the story(Tales, FF as some examples), then it started to feel like a fucking chore and I discovered Atlus and Falcom... and never looked back, actually fun games! Can you believe it? haha


Also, I was crap at action games and just spammed a combo if it worked forever, now I'm revisiting games like DMC3 and actually learning how to play them and boy it's rewarding.

I'd say I went from someone that cared a lot about story to someone that now plays games for the gameplay, I also LOVE minimalist stories in games. If I want a good story I just check out VNs, as I love stuff like the Phoenix Wright series and 999.

And I pretty much stopped playing AAA Western games, I play one a year and it’s probably because of Naughty Dog.

I need more games that challenge me, hence me leaving western games and going for Japanese stuff these days.
 
Yes, for me its been MMOs but now as you grow older you have less and less time for them I broke off of that MMO addiction and just started playing other games. Although I do try newer games like right now I'm into GTA5, I mostly do emulation playing classic games just exploring other game series I didn't get the chance to get into like the Kirby series which made me discover that Kirby's Adventure is one of the greatest games ever made (yet underrated).

I've been watching a lot of videos from Game Sack (fantastic YouTube channel) and gave me some ideas as to what to play. They tend to lean more towards the TurboGrafx 16 which has a lot of good games (also underrated).

I'm happy with where I am in gaming right now.
 
I used to run from EVERY battle in an RPG, and found a lot of them very hard because of it.

As an adult, I'm far more patient, and actually never run from a battle---and I find a lot of old RPGs much simpler now because I'm actually fairly leveled.

I'm also a bit more mindful of magic and buffs/debuffs, but honestly I'm still a bit of a "just attack!" dude.
 
D15GR4C3D said:
It have.
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I'm better at games. Or rather, I am less focused on just getting through stuff and more focused on challenging myself. Instead of being content just beating games, I try to do my best to be good at them. It varies from game to game of course, but I can now do a heck of a lot better at games at 30 than I could when I was 15.

The biggest change in my gaming habits is probably the result of the rental industry dying out. Instead of renting a new game every weekend, I focus on playing a smaller number of games I own.
 
I don't think the kinds of games I play have necessarily changed over the years. When I was younger I'd play just about anything, and sure, I'd have definite preferences and favourites, but I still enjoyed nearly everything I played. Nowadays I think I just have a better idea of what kind of games I genuinely enjoy playing, and have far less time to pour into games that are just mindless time-killers for me.

With regards to how I actually play games, that's definitely changed. I play far more patiently and methodically nowadays.
 
I'm playing more games now, that's the only difference really.

I used to play primarily platformers, action/adventure and JRPGs. Now I play fighting games, a little of WRPGs, Rhythm games, shmups, a few racing games, and even some extremely rare cases of me playing a shooter (I still hate 99% of games in that genre though =P).

For a while I stopped playing platformers, because I was never much into Mario games and they became very dominant for the longest time, but I do play more of them nowadays.
 
Yes, I hardly ever play anything these days and the only games that actually hold my interest are either competitive (SC2, CS:GO, WoW Arenas) or sand box-ish (CK2, EU IV, SimCity 4).

Every time I try to play a campaign or something similar, I lose interest fast. Used to love JRPGs but can't play them anymore.
 
Yes, a lot. I now prefer story-driven games, focused on the character, and with good atmosphere. I also enjoy talking to other NPCs (that's what I most like in games like Mass Effect) and exploring the world at my own pace.
 
Definitely.

I was a lot like you actually, OP. Played a lot of PS1 JRPGs, Tony Hawk and also Football games. That was pretty much it until 2010 when I finally got a PS3. I really wanted to stick with JRPGs, but there just weren't that many good ones. I did it anyway out of some weird sense of loyalty even though I didn't really enjoy them.

Now I just play what's fun. I don't have time for un-fun games. Persona 4 Golden is my favorite game of all time but fuck Persona Q. I used to judge FPS games as casual trash, but I play them more than ever now and enjoy them.

My tastes have definitely changed and for the better. Changing is growing, or something like that.
 
Not really, no. I grew up playing RPGs, and they're still my preference by large. I've expanded somewhat, but my tastes haven't changed much.
 
I tend to play more casual games, i used to shit on everything that was easy but ultimately, they can be just as fun. That doesn't mean i won't accept a decent challenge if i find one. I noticed that while i still think i'm better than average, my overall skills are diminishing, mostly because i end up not taking games as seriously as i used to.

I barely play FPS anymore, used to be my main gendra, spent hours and hours on UT/Quake/Tribes/AvP2 when i was younger.
Same for RTS, i think it's mostly due to the fact i simply accepted i sucked at them and would never be good.
I play more rpg now, with a clear focus on Dungeon crawlers and Action. I barely touched the gendra before EO and Ys Origin.
My most played game atm is a online boardgame, typically the kind of game i'd shit talk.
I'm going back in my MMO period with DFO and probably TOS next.
 
Play style?

Well, my reaction times aren't what they used to be. I've gone from adept to average schmo. At least I'm not game-reviewer bad yet.
 
I played almost exclusively shooters and first person games, sans stuff from Nintendo. Turn based games? Why would I want to play a game where people stand around doing nothing in between blows? I'm just gonna run from every single non-important battle anyway.

Now? It's virtually impossible to get me excited about a shooter. Nothing does it for me. Meanwhile, Persona 5 is at the top of my hype list and pretty much every game I buy is an RPG of some description.
 
Of course it has.

Tastes of all kinds evolve and mature over time. It's completely natural.

I'm just glad that the medium is finally expanding enough to cater to all demographics, as it really felt stuck in the < 30 zone as little as 10 years ago.
 
Watch Da Birdie said:
I used to run from EVERY battle in an RPG, and found a lot of them very hard because of it.

As an adult, I'm far more patient, and actually never run from a battle---and I find a lot of old RPGs much simpler now because I'm actually fairly leveled.

I'm also a bit more mindful of magic and buffs/debuffs, but honestly I'm still a bit of a "just attack!" dude.
Click to expand...

I never did this for a long period of time, but there was a good year or so where I did do this as a kid because I started to feel like most random battles were arbitrary. I actually ended up doing an underleveled playthrough of FF4 as a result since I ran from nearly literally every battle that I could. After that year I came to the conclusion that I didn't have fun doing this and I've since usually been overleveled when playing most RPGs.
 
I used to prefer open world games and sprawling JRPGs, now I tend to prefer linear games and I no longer have the patience for JRPGs (except Persona, which I can still inexplicably dump a hundred hours into without blinking).

I'm not sure this is a "change" as the scene hasn't been around for very long at all, but I'm huge into indie gaming.
 
I prefer ganes I can play in short spurts. Smaller ganes right now but I hobon the occasional crazy binge. With school being intense and clinical rotations starting soon I think I will gaff even less time.
 
I play zero JRPG's now. Some of that is definitely me, but a lot of that is simply because the JRPG series that I enjoy (FF, Chrono and Phantasy Star) have disappeared or severely disappointed. Shit, even the one JRPG series that I enjoyed (Kingdom Hearts) has been absent on consoles for almost 10 years now.

I have mostly filled that gap with shooters of some variety.

I still play racing games. That's nothing new. I still play Hot Pursuit to this day, just to do time trials.
 
Lupin3 said:
When I was younger, in my teens/twenties and all that, I usually liked games like Final Fantasy 7 etc., and mainly role playing games with lots of dialogue. And the more CGI the better. The pace didn't bother me at all.

But now, I can't stand JRPGs at all. I hate almost everything about a stereotypical Japanese RPG. They have to be really special for me to enjoy them, like Corpse Party (horror). And I grow really impatience when a game has a too long of an intro. I just wanna press that button to skip it unless it's REALLY interesting. Before it was the longer the intro the better.


Have you changed?
Click to expand...

This is me almost to a tee. I dont understand it. I ...loved FF, Phantasy Star, Chrono Trigger, Wild Arms, Secret of Mana, etc when I was younger. Now? I almost avoid these types of RPG's. I almost dont like RPG's in general now. I have yet to play alot of Mass Effect and other types like it.
 
The biggest adjustment I've made is actually bothering with online competitive multiplayer. It used to be that even with games designed around a multiplayer experience (RTS especially) I would play the single player campaigns and maybe a few skirmishes with friends, but never venture into ladder matches with strangers. I've since warmed to it: StarCraft II made me a ladder player, I've gotten a lot more use out of Mario Kart 8's online play than on the DS/Wii/3DS, and I'm a lot more comfortable with games where online play is the whole experience (Hearthstone, to some extent TF2, and soon, we hope, Splatoon). Still haven't branched out into this territory with Super Smash Bros., which for me is still all about the couch multiplayer and single-player challenges, but soon enough I may.

Not many other habits or preferences have changed. I have even less patience for game-standard storytelling than I used to, which rules out most of the story-driven games on the market that have neither good writing nor compelling mechanics. I no longer hunt achievements or collections like I once did, although I still go for 100% in games built on meaningful challenges instead of grinding (Mario games and Tropical Freeze are particularly good examples of this).
 
Only difference now compared to whwn I was like 10 is that I broaden the game genres I play now but I still mainly prefer to play alone. Yea ill play with others at times but 80% a solo player. Even when I play onlime team games I tend to dtick by myself unless the game requires actual team work
 
Used to really be into FPS, RPGs, and a mix of other genres. I'm finding it much harder to play in first person, so that genre is out. I recently discovered that I absolutely love platformers, despite not overly liking them before, so been playing a lot of those on my PC and the Wii U.

Can't stand a lot of JRPGs these days, the time wasting aspect of them just grinds my gears. WRPGs I'm getting much more picky on, will play more turn based ones and other ones that respect my time. SRPGs remain a strong love for the most part, except Disgaea, fuck that series. ARPGs are something I can't play endlessly any more like I did with Diablo 2, but still are fun.

Basically I like games that I can pick up, play for a bit, and then drop, or ones that respect my time.
 
I played a lot of adventure/platforming titles as a kid, while I still play those games I find myself playing JRPGS and stealth titles more and more.

Also I went from primarily handhelds and consoles to almost exclusively PC, so I guess my platform of choice changed too.
 
I've gone the opposite way that I see alot of people have as I've gotten older in that I actually prefer long experiences and open world games more than when I was younger. Despite having less time to play games in general I feel like I have a better experience playing games that are really open-ended as it brings back that experience of thinking about a game all day long looking forward to finally getting to play it at the end of the day that I would get as a kid. For a while I had the ability to play whatever I felt like for as long as I liked and eventually I started to experience gamer fatigue where I simply didn't want to play any of the games that I would usually be down for any time. Having a single game that I focus lots of time and effort towards makes the time investment feel more worthwhile as I feel like I get a deeper experience than simply playing a game to reach the end, I actually prefer stretching out the experience so much so that I often finish Bethesda games with maxed characters from doing every sidequest before the main ones. I see alot of people asking for shorter games because they have less time to play and it bums me out because I feel like they could simply play a longer game in short bursts, I hate when a game suddenly ends (Rage for example) when I get so invested in the characters/story just because people don't have time. Other forms of media aren't made shorter because people don't have time and it sucks that the average game length gets shorter and shorter each year as I've seen people mention statistics about how infrequently people actually reach the 100% end of a game, though I usually do.
 
Absolutely.

I spent a great deal of my twenties playing FPS games almost exclusively. Nowadays I can hardly enjoy them unless they're fucking amazing good. I'm hard pressed to find a military type FPS that I can get past an hour of.
 
Sort of. What I play has expanded a lot more from when I was younger. In regards to RPGs I am playing less now but I'm just waiting for some that really interest me to come out. I can definitely see myself returning to them. I need a mix of games I can play in short bursts as well as longer games I can sit with for hours.
 
When I was a child and early teenager, I tend to button-mash and dive head-first into action. As I got older, I've approached things more methodically.
 
I used to play a lot of racers, shooters, and WRPGS.

Now I play a lot of racers, shooters, and WRPGS.
 
When I was a kid, I preferred Banjo Tooie over Banjo Kazooie. Now, I prefer Kazooie over Tooie. That's just one example, but it captures everything about how I've changed. I used to appreciate the size of BT, now that's way too big with too many things to do. The backtracking in BT was one of my favourite things, now that's too many things to keep track of. This one is probably bolstered by the fact that I play more sporadically, so remembering what I was doing the last time and where I need to go is too much.
 
I also play more online multi player parts of games now. Not alot of MMO and whatnot but CoD multi player, TLoU multi player, EA and 2K sports games online, etc.

I do like DC Universe alot. If its online its something I really have to be interested in. I wanna get Destiny....still looking for a better deal. I plan on jumping head first into The Division tho.

I might get The Crew and Drive Club.
 
Funny I was in the process of playing (and beating) SF x Tekken on Vita (on EASY) while riding the BART home today and I noticed I was doing this repetitive, rhythmic tapping as I laid waste to every single opponent I faced with Guy and Guile using formulas I learned on SFIV.

Between this and TxK (which I also play on BART...and links me to quarters dropped in Tempest machines literally 34 years ago) I feel that there is a continuity in how I play games since I'm an old enough gamer that the "tap tap tap...tap tap...tap TAP!!" was what we did on Mattel handhelds back in the day. (which maybe .004% of the readership here will really understand.)

But my playstyle has changed. If not necessarily physically.

I'm way more open to different kinds of games and different experiences and feelings, than I was in the Arcade and early console era, or the PS1/PS2/Dreamcast era.

I mean, I had a pointless water-gun fight in a videogame with my "special friend" not so long ago and in the immediate aftermath of what followed...I cried a little bit. (EDIT: I bawled like a little boy.)

I had a save game in Mass Effect 3 where I was about to tell my blue, alien significant other that I wanted to spend the rest of my short human/lesbian life with her...and I played through it with my straight (not familiar with Mass Effect) girlfriend and we both got some serious fee-fees going.

I'm giving more of myself to games. And am willing to be more flexible wrt to what makes a game a unique experience. And I'm a better person for it. Somehow. Not unlike how I was when I read novels or poems as a college student or watched weird film shorts as a film student.

But in the meantime, I'm still playing Robotron 2054...I mean Smash TV...I mean Binding of Isaac Rebirth...

and loving every minute of it.

Tap tap tap....tap tap...tap TAP!!
 
Nope. I still play the same stuff, shooters, rpg, action rpg, mobas, other crap that might call my attention, fighters. And still at the same quick phase and I'm 24 the "doom age" for gamers.
 
Not really play style but PS1, PS2 era I finished all games but since ethernet addon on PS2 I rarely finish a game I mainly play online but I am trying to break that habit lol
 
From a genre perspective, no. But in fighting games and some action RPGs, I've been leaning less towards fast-paced swordplay and more towards brawlers. Started noticing it when I stopped enjoying playing as Marth, who was my main in Melee, and picked up Mario and Little Mac really quickly.
 
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