• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Why do people start a new game without ever looking at options? Especially when it comes to retro titles?

NinjaBoiX

Member
I’ve got to be honest, I don’t really check through the options as a rule, I’ll go in a flip the Y axis and make sure subs are off but that’s usually it.

If something else bothers me once I start playing I’ll go in and see if I can tweak it.
 

Merkades

Member
Back in the day I used to buy games before I headed to work (I work off hours) and on game days I would give myself extra time and read the instruction books in the parking lot. I think for option menus I am in between, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. On PC I definitely do, mostly because I hate DoF, Blur, Film Grain, CA, excessive bloom et cetera.
 

Melubas

Member
To each his own, but I'm an options junkie. I play mostly on PC and fiddling with the settings for 30 minutes before playing is part of the experience for me ;) Turning off chromatic aberration and motion blur, making sure the resolution is correct, dropping shadows one or two notches for stability and turning off / down anti-aliasing to ensure 4k 60 fps.
 
Mandatory for me. Any game I play for the first time, I'm looking for the Options. I like to see what's available for me. Most important being the controls. You're a garbage human being if you don't look for the Options, plain and simple and I hate you.
 
Last edited:

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
it was the most annoying thing about giantbomb when they were still good (about up to 3 years ago)...
 

nkarafo

Member
Because the default settings should be the intended way to play.
Not really. Defaults are usually the safest options that should work for most people. But sometimes developers have different opinions on what should be the default. Take inverted Y controls for instance. Some games have this enabled by default, some don't.
 
Pretty much every shmup in history has a more lives/continues option, son.
Ah, continue screen, not something you can set up in Options screen

and even still, I don't remember it being infinite. In R-Type or Gradius home versions, you had a limited amount of tries, once they're done, it's a definite game over, try over from scratch. Memory may be playing tricks with me, but I don't believe so.
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Sometimes you just want to play a game with a naked eye it’s more special that way
 

Goro Majima

Kitty Genovese Member
Between difficulty levels from the 16 bit era and turning on subtitles from the PS3/360 era and being a PC gamer to boot, I always check options first.

What I really hate is when subtitles are off by default and you have to wait for that cold open to even finish before being able to turn them on. Or at least turn the music down because the mixing in games is often really bad.
 

01011001

Banned
no matter the game, the options NEED TO BE LOOKED AT FIRST!

only heathens ignore the options menu!

and yeah, in retro games that is a big big no no
 

Airola

Member
In real retro titles, more lives was never an Option. were you thinking in terms of emulator cheats?

Robocop vs. The Terminator on Mega Drive / Genesis had an option to change the amount of lives in the options screen, if I recall correctly.
 

Hal.

Member
Nothing chaps my ass more than someone trying to figure something out or wishes they can do X Y or Z.
More lives, easier\ harder or otherwise.
Options mode exists for a reason.

Modern games do it differently, but the focus is more on retro titles.

Chaps my ass

fucking love that quote

@mods can one of you give me this tag?

Hal.
Chaps my ass
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
i've learned that most people are idiots.

seriously...don't underestimate the idiocy of people. you might think something is so easy and straight forward but there will always be awkward donkeys out there either genuinely thick in the skull or playing dumb.
 

Iorv3th

Member
Washing your hands between using a toilet and eating a sandwich is optional, too
True but I remember when options menus were just bullshit like BGM music checks and stuff. They were completely useless or non existent. If you want to look up tutorials and stuff most people will use youtube for that.
 
Whilst I’ve been guilty of this type of behavior at the best of times, games don’t always have the best track record of making things important visible to the player. I’m playing through Mafia 2 right now, and I can’t even change or see what difficulty I’m on! The game doesn’t give you a notification for this at all, even when you start!
 

Moogle11

Banned
I definitely check options first. See if there are subtitles and turn them on, if an audio setting needs toggled to headphones, if there are any graphics filters I know I don’t like and want to turn off (film grain, motion blur) whether theory’s an FPS/graphics toggle and so on.
 

Cyberpunkd

Member
Back in the day I used to buy games before I headed to work (I work off hours) and on game days I would give myself extra time and read the instruction books in the parking lot. I think for option menus I am in between, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. On PC I definitely do, mostly because I hate DoF, Blur, Film Grain, CA, excessive bloom et cetera.
I loved the old manuals. Now that I think about it I would like them back - you could read them at your own pace and once you started the game you were put right into the action, no tutorials.
Come to think of it every game should have the option to skip tutorials.
 
I only check any of that stuff if something is bothering me. That's one of the main reasons i play on console. I don't want to check anything, i want other people to check it for me so i don't have to bother with it.
 

Duchess

Member
My pet hate is when a new game starts straight into a battle, race, etc. without letting you set the options. It's almost like you're being forced to play a prologue. So, the sound volumes are wrong, the subtitles are on, etc.
 
Top Bottom