Changing taste with age

[Deleted member 1295]

As I get older, I'm finding it more and more difficult to settle into games. This is extremely common, I'm aware, but I seem to have the opposite issue of others. I've played a lot of games. It was always my biggest pastime, but I've also read a lot of books, and watched a ton of film. These two other hobbies spoiled me. Where I used to enjoy a plethora of games, ever since really delving into the other two, any story focused game is basically out the window, as they never hold a candle to the other mediums that simply do story better.

Now I get it, that's a contentious thing to say. There seem to be a large group of people online across the various sites that think games are potentially the best medium for telling a story, and I don't disagree that they have a ton of unmet potential, but it's just that; unmet. It's not to say that every single game out there has a terrible story, or terrible writing, but when I sit down to play a game, I can no longer force myself to even give these stories a chance.

I used to love JRPGs as a kid and teenager. There's a part of me that still has a nostalgic draw to them. I remember warm Summer nights, playing Final Fantasy VII when no one else was awake, and I yearn for that experience, but now, even though I wish I could love them again, I just can't.

These days, I'm kind of stuck. I eventually wound my way around to Devil May Cry 3 in about 2007 and that was really the beginning of this slow crawl towards my narrowed tastes of today. Devil May Cry 3, led to 4, which led to Bayonetta. I found Monster Hunter sometime around then, too. These games became my core, and since then, it's been more and more difficult to find something that truly matches these few. More recently, games like Nioh, especially the second, filled that gap a bit. I NEED depth. I NEED challenge, and gaming has been trending away from challenging the player for quite a long time. (I should have mentioned Ninja Gaiden Black in there too, but I'm not gonna edit it to include it properly.)

I've recently been trying to just make myself sit down and focus on games outside of the challenging wheelhouse. My eyes get heavy, I literally start to fall asleep. I wish I could keep myself invested, but most games don't induce a flow state in me anymore as there's just no challenge.

In a way, I've done this to myself. As I watched more films, or read more books, the same thing happened, but thankfully with reading, there's hundreds of years of books to delve into, but gaming, not so much.

Nowadays, I spend a lot of time parsing through games, looking for those few that hook me, and it does happen from time to time. Sometimes, a game like Genji on PS2 will come along and I can play it through it one sitting. Or something like Parasite Eve, which I missed completely until a few years back. But, ultimately, I'm always searching before falling back to my favorites on repeat. Even nostalgia isn't strong enough to keep most games I played as a kid afloat.

How's it gone for you? Do you find yourself struggling to find games, or are you more open minded than ever?

 

[Yousef]

It did happen to me. When I was younger, gamed tasted like chocolate. These days, they taste like chicken. Truly an evolution.

 

[RanmyakuIchi's iconRanmyakuIchi]

It's a natural outcome of getting older, I feel. Most people have more responsibly, less time, and more options due to income or resources, so it's somewhat normal to become a bit pickier with what you choose to devote your attention to.
I sometime struggle to stick with something if it doesn't immediately hook me due to knowing I have a ton of other things I could be playing and only so much time to do so. Ironically, stepping out of my comfort zone helps for me, as I'm more likely to experience something novel in a genre I'm less familiar with.

 

[tenkai star]

We’ve built up a tolerance to our entertainment because we’re experienced so much over time. I’m definitely harder to please and it sounds like you are as well.

As a kid I’d sit wide eyed in front of any game and take in the story. Now i hate when a game lore dumps at the beginning and feel I can’t care about anything until the game has demonstrated enough to hold my attention.

I try really hard to give new things a chance. Do I always succeed? Not at all. Sometimes it takes me 2-5 attempts over years to get through the first hours of a game I’ve never played before

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

Yes I went from liking racing games to RTS.

 

[bjork]

Maybe it's just time to take a break from gaming, there's nothing saying you have to play regularly. I haven't had the issue you are contending with because I just like seeing what's out there, so I'll try almost anything. If it turns out that I bounce off it an hour later and never play it again, that's ok. I don't consider the time wasted or the experience bad, because at least now I know. That may not be entertaining to other people and that's fine too.

That said, if you just want a difficult game, try out Dead Cells. You can't unlock the last difficulty until you beat the earlier ones, but Dead Cells on the hardest difficulty is no joke.

 

[Deleted member 1295]

Maybe it's just time to take a break from gaming, there's nothing saying you have to play regularly. I haven't had the issue you are contending with because I just like seeing what's out there, so I'll try almost anything. If it turns out that I bounce off it an hour later and never play it again, that's ok. I don't consider the time wasted or the experience bad, because at least now I know. That may not be entertaining to other people and that's fine too.

That said, if you just want a difficult game, try out Dead Cells. You can't unlock the last difficulty until you beat the earlier ones, but Dead Cells on the hardest difficulty is no joke.

I've actually taken long periods of time off, and it definitely does help to some degree. I think it's good for any hobby, for sure. I used to get quite annoyed that I couldn't find anything that stuck with me, but over the past couple of years, I just kinda shrug and go play one of my staples for a while.

I've played quite a bit of Dead Cells, definitely a good game. Only issue I have with it is that I don't like randomization, and often dislike stats in general in action games. That's my problem, nothing to do with the game itself. If there's a "big name" difficult game, I've likely played it to some degree.

As Ranmyakulchi mentioned, the adult resources definitely made it easier to try just about anything.

We’ve built up a tolerance to our entertainment because we’re experienced so much over time. I’m definitely harder to please and it sounds like you are as well.

As a kid I’d sit wide eyed in front of any game and take in the story. Now i hate when a game lore dumps at the beginning and feel I can’t care about anything until the game has demonstrated enough to hold my attention.

I try really hard to give new things a chance. Do I always succeed? Not at all. Sometimes it takes me 2-5 attempts over years to get through the first hours of a game I’ve never played before

I've definitely got a high tolerance to entertainment in general. I was the same with just about every game as a kid. We were regulars at the rental store in town, and I don't think I ever disliked a single game we rented back then.

​

 

[tenkai star]

I was the same with just about every game as a kid. We were regulars at the rental store in town, and I don't think I ever disliked a single game we rented back then.

This is so true. You had me reminiscing about that. I had my mom rent me Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue for the n64 many times and I LOVED it. I won’t play it for free off the repo now

 

[Deleted member 1295]

This is so true. You had me reminiscing about that. I had my mom rent me Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue for the n64 many times and I LOVED it. I won’t play it for free off the repo now

Quest 64 and Yoshi's Story are the two that leap out to me that we rented. Quest 64 might be one of the worst things I've ever liked, in any medium.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin]

I find the opposite is true for me. When I was younger I was a lot more picky on what games I would try. I just had a lower attention span back then, I wouldn't even give turn based RPGs a chance. Now I just have a lot more passion for the medium and will pretty much give anything a try. 12 year old me would have never sat down and played a 100 hour RPG. Plus I rarely touch books and movies now so games are my main form of entertainment.

 

[tenkai star]

Quest 64 and Yoshi's Story are the two that leap out to me that we rented. Quest 64 might be one of the worst things I've ever liked, in any medium.

I have a soft spot for Quest 64 out of nostalgia but yeah it’s quite terrible lol. For everyone who rented that and regrets it I totally understand. The n64 really whiffed on the traditional jrpg unless I’m forgetting something

 

[Deleted member 1295]

I find the opposite is true for me. When I was younger I was a lot more picky on what games I would try. I just had a lower attention span back then, I wouldn't even give turn based RPGs a chance. Now I just have a lot more passion for the medium and will pretty much give anything a try. 12 year old me would have never sat down and played a 100 hour RPG. Plus I rarely touch books and movies now so games are my main form of entertainment.

I've heard a couple of people say this. I admit, I'm jealous. I'm wondering if it isn't the fact that I played all of those games as a kid and we simply inevitably shift to some degree. I've been playing non-kart racing games lately, something I never liked before, and now find myself addicted to. I still need games to be arcade-like, instantly challenging, but the scope of challenge has changed quite a bit.

I have a soft spot for Quest 64 out of nostalgia but yeah it’s quite terrible lol. For everyone who rented that and regrets it I totally understand. The n64 really whiffed on the traditional jrpg unless I’m forgetting something

Even though I think it's a bad game, I do think it has a lot of charm to it. It's a real enigma.

 

[RanmyakuIchi's iconRanmyakuIchi]

I find the opposite is true for me. When I was younger I was a lot more picky on what games I would try. I just had a lower attention span back then, I wouldn't even give turn based RPGs a chance. Now I just have a lot more passion for the medium and will pretty much give anything a try. 12 year old me would have never sat down and played a 100 hour RPG. Plus I rarely touch books and movies now so games are my main form of entertainment.

Yeah, I had a pretty big bias against turn based RPGs as a kid too, as my sugar-addled brain couldn't understand the appeal of reading or not having instant stimulation. Now I adore them, Turn based Strategy especially. I'll give anything a fair shake.

 

[Cu-Neo]

In my case when I was younger I used to only play things with good scores and I ignored things like Senran Kagura and Neptunia, now I love that franchises and I always get curious with every type of game both good and bad ones, so now I read a lot of articles. In the end, the older I get, the more curious I become.

 

[ObscureJigglypuff]

When i was a little snot
I was a pure girl
a rose like a rose like a rose like rose like a rose,
or something along those lines.

Then i grew up
now a have bills to pay
a boobs to maintain,
games were a dream long time ago
now they are a dream too;
more like a "woke" nightmare (?)

Huh...

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD:

 

[AnonymousCookieMonster]

I remember explicitly turning 10 and then i couldn't stand pepperoni anymore...

Then when i moved out on my own i suddenly liked oatmeal a lot more.

Then in the last N years (since 2017) sugar and sweets are less wanted and i want oily and fatty and salty foods more. (Like grilled chicken, Miso, stews, not junk food)

 

[Donte]

 

[Prism_Red]

Now that I think about it, my taste don't change much from when I was young, if ever. Never been picky about genre either, of course I have my preferences on certain thing but in the end of the day as long as it's fun, I'm down.

 

[Gamma]

That's normal. You just get used to know more about yourself and the things that click.
About hard games, most of the ones you cited were action games maybe trying something hard in a different way, like maybe Fear and Hunger, where it's challenging in a different way in a different genre?
Me though, I have broad tastes and try to give anything a try if it interest me but nowadays there's so much interesting stuff coming out that I just leave to feel if I want to try something.
Like: Oh this video talking about this Game/Anime was good -> I'm gonna watch/play that
Because if not, I just end up scrolling endlessly looking for something and even when I try my mind just fills of thoughts of stoping and try other things that might click right away but never do. I kinda just have to stop these thoughts and let the media in front of me breathe and give it time.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Honestly the opposite happened to me. I missed out on everything as a kid and never realised it till I started emulating. Would've never been able to play MadWorld (too young when it came out), Final Fantasy VI on SNES, any Medarot game, the PSP as a whole because I didn't know that console existed until I started, etc

I'm really starting to realise what I missed out on. Sticking to them however is a different story.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Games can be fun and enjoyable, hard and challenging, annoying af, unfair, etc. But having these thoughts can make you struggle more to find what games that you like. I used to have these kinds of thoughts before and never got to enjoy any games, not even non-gaming stuff

But in the end, I just simply…don't care? Because if I just keep thinking about it all day long, when will I play it? How long do I have to struggle to find a new game? I basically abandoned all these thoughts that'll keep me up at night. Because you better leave those kinds of thoughts, before it makes you struggle more IRL

 

[JPearsons]

As I get older, I'm finding it more and more difficult to settle into games. This is extremely common, I'm aware, but I seem to have the opposite issue of others. I've played a lot of games. It was always my biggest pastime, but I've also read a lot of books, and watched a ton of film. These two other hobbies spoiled me. Where I used to enjoy a plethora of games, ever since really delving into the other two, any story focused game is basically out the window, as they never hold a candle to the other mediums that simply do story better.

Now I get it, that's a contentious thing to say. There seem to be a large group of people online across the various sites that think games are potentially the best medium for telling a story, and I don't disagree that they have a ton of unmet potential, but it's just that; unmet. It's not to say that every single game out there has a terrible story, or terrible writing, but when I sit down to play a game, I can no longer force myself to even give these stories a chance.

I used to love JRPGs as a kid and teenager. There's a part of me that still has a nostalgic draw to them. I remember warm Summer nights, playing Final Fantasy VII when no one else was awake, and I yearn for that experience, but now, even though I wish I could love them again, I just can't.

These days, I'm kind of stuck. I eventually wound my way around to Devil May Cry 3 in about 2007 and that was really the beginning of this slow crawl towards my narrowed tastes of today. Devil May Cry 3, led to 4, which led to Bayonetta. I found Monster Hunter sometime around then, too. These games became my core, and since then, it's been more and more difficult to find something that truly matches these few. More recently, games like Nioh, especially the second, filled that gap a bit. I NEED depth. I NEED challenge, and gaming has been trending away from challenging the player for quite a long time. (I should have mentioned Ninja Gaiden Black in there too, but I'm not gonna edit it to include it properly.)

I've recently been trying to just make myself sit down and focus on games outside of the challenging wheelhouse. My eyes get heavy, I literally start to fall asleep. I wish I could keep myself invested, but most games don't induce a flow state in me anymore as there's just no challenge.

In a way, I've done this to myself. As I watched more films, or read more books, the same thing happened, but thankfully with reading, there's hundreds of years of books to delve into, but gaming, not so much.

Nowadays, I spend a lot of time parsing through games, looking for those few that hook me, and it does happen from time to time. Sometimes, a game like Genji on PS2 will come along and I can play it through it one sitting. Or something like Parasite Eve, which I missed completely until a few years back. But, ultimately, I'm always searching before falling back to my favorites on repeat. Even nostalgia isn't strong enough to keep most games I played as a kid afloat.

How's it gone for you? Do you find yourself struggling to find games, or are you more open minded than ever?

I'm a millenial gamer, i was always playing games growing up, but then ive gone through a lot of different phases in life, some where I stopped playing games altogether for a long time. But it seems like I always come back to them, i still love specific franchises like Sonic, ect. Sometimes my tastes have changed, i would say thats normal.
I was a huge passionate electronic music enthusiast for almost a decade but then ive gone through phases where I was too busy and lost interest. Then when you come back into the scene later, you get nostalgic chills down your spine and feel the passion again.

I would also recommend going into games without certain expectations, i never read or care about reviews or anything and just enjoy the vibes of various games and then be pleasantly surprised. That way youre not being influenced by other peoples griping and negativity and decide whether you enjoy it or not lol
Its normal to go through phases like you describe, though.

 

[ejicolxlombarxdi]

When i was young my mom could really only afford the smaller priced games of the 360.
My biggest source of nostalgia is the sonic library (especially cd and unleashed) Bayonetta and dead rising 2 case west

But as i get older, I find myself being attracted to the extremes and rarely the middle.
I either go for games like dodonpachi where the only cutscenes are endings that last 2 minutes max or massive jrpgs like the final fantasy series or chrono trigger and its rare that these games hold my attention for more than a week max.
So few games just truly click with me and so few arne't meant to be replayed adnauseum.
Im becoming less of a "gamer" and more of a "normie" or general pop culture enjoyer including games as well.
With that being said im trying to master these 2d games i love and finding out the hard way just what these fucking japanese people making these games expected from people back in the day.

 

[Deleted member 1295]

I'm a millenial gamer, i was always playing games growing up, but then ive gone through a lot of different phases in life, some where I stopped playing games altogether for a long time. But it seems like I always come back to them, i still love specific franchises like Sonic, ect. Sometimes my tastes have changed, i would say thats normal.
I was a huge passionate electronic music enthusiast for almost a decade but then ive gone through phases where I was too busy and lost interest. Then when you come back into the scene later, you get nostalgic chills down your spine and feel the passion again.

I would also recommend going into games without certain expectations, i never read or care about reviews or anything and just enjoy the vibes of various games and then be pleasantly surprised. That way youre not being influenced by other peoples griping and negativity and decide whether you enjoy it or not lol
Its normal to go through phases like you describe, though.

I don't read reviews anymore, either. I'm not really looking for a solution, I just find it interesting. I never expected the games I'd play on repeat that I've found more recently to be things like Streets of Rage (specifically the fan remake combining the first 3) and Outrun 2006. I was obsessed with long, drawn out adventures for so long, and to find myself completely incapable of even caring about the story in some of my favorites felt odd a few years back.

I think it's an inevitable turn, one I no longer worry about. I've tried to simply not have expectations, but the thing is, my list of perfect games that I love always pulls at me when I find something to be subpar.

And for stories nowadays, I made the great mistake of finding Gene Wolfe's novels and that put most other things to shame for me.

I find the topic interesting, because I certainly know people that will play anything and relish it as they age, but for me some others I've found on YouTube or forums, it's becoming a narrower field. Something has to really stand out to me in one way or another, and fast, or I wind up getting up and looking for yard work to do.

Right now I'm cycling between Streets of Rage Remake, Dragon's Crown aiming to 1cc all levels/routes at endgame, Monster Hunter GU, and finishing up Outrun 2006 with all AAA. I just finished Streets of Rage 4 1cc with S rank and S ranked all of mania+. I have a lot to play, it just takes much, much longer to find another game to add to the list as time goes on, and honestly recommendation resources online don't work very well. I wind up cycling the same list rather than having the novelty of anything new.

 

[Bragr]

I don't think it's about stories in books being better, I think we see this phenomenon all the time in all entertainment media. Whether it's people only listening to classics like The Beatles and Metallica, or people only watching anime, some people just latch on to specific things and struggle to get into other things.

If you only play old games, it's clearly a nostalgia thing, I can't for the life of me see how anyone would not enjoy at least one of the top five games of 2024.