So while I still play for a bit on Path of Exile 2 ever day for an hour or so, I can't really stay interested in a game that is as laggy as it is. Thank you to the people that offered up explanations for my connection issues, they helped a bit but the lag is still there and I simply cannot enjoy a game that this is going to happen with.
I also don't really feel like getting into a game that may as well be an MMO. I swore those off many years ago after 2 instances of semi-addiction resulted in bad things happening in my relationships. POE2 isn't an MMO in a true sense, but since a majority of what is going to take place in game that is really exciting is end-game material and that is material that never ends, then it is kind of the same thing as an MMO.
So instead I started picking through the titles on PS-Plus and seeing if any of them might hold my interest and landed on Dying Light 2, an open-world zombie apocalypse game that at least appeared to be somewhat interesting.
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A game has to do a number of things to hold my interest right out the gate and this is having a method of showing me the controls in a simplistic manner while also not throwing all the controls at me all at once. This game does a reasonably good job with this as they introduce you to the normal mechanics of how to jump and run and hit things. I suppose there is a small chance of death in there but for the most part they don't put you in any situation that is difficult to get past.
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One thing that is introduced to you really early on is the need to run around and pick up stuff everywhere that you go. It isn't evident what this stuff is actually used for so I can only presume that this becomes more relevant later on in the game. For some, this might be a "hooray! crafting!" moment but for me it just seems like something that I rarely find interesting in a game. It was one of the main things actually, that turned me off about other games that I otherwise really enjoyed such as Witcher 3 and RDR2. Call me crazy, but I don't actually want to be wandering around the woods for ages looking for more honey and chamomile so that I can make more health potions.
The combat is simple enough and I am sure it will be more involved later but I don't really like being hunted by zombies constantly because this has just been done so much in games that I feel the premise is kind of stale.
The open-world aspect of it could be ok and I hate to be a downer here but I think I am kind of sick of that as well. I've just played far too many games that are so massive that it seems like it is never going to end. It's too early for me to have a full opinion about this but if the combat doesn't become more involved than "hit, kick, block" I can't see this staying interesting for very long.
Many have said that the parkour elements of the game are the best part of it and I guess that could be ok but at the end of the day I don't know if I am in the mood for a super-massive game like this that has so many objectives and side-missions that it is going to end up being a 100-hour adventure if you care to take it on. I don't think I am in the mood for something that big at the moment.
I'm old-school, so the things that appeal to me the most are actually side-scrolling games and especially ones that are metroidvania style - which is what I think I am going to try to seek out next.
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This morning I took a look at an article that was titled "no, I don't want to play Dying Light 2 for 500 hours" and the author makes some good points about how the game is repetitive as hell for the first 8 hours and then it starts to become fun. Sheeh, I don't think I have it in me to roll through that much time in order for the game to be fun. I'm not going to delete it off my hard drive just yet because it is a massive file but I really can't see myself getting into this. The author of the above article also states that after 12 hours or so the game basically becomes a never-ending series of fetch quests and if that doesn't scare me away I don't know what will.
So all you folks out there in internet-world, if you can think of any compelling reason why I should stick with this one please do make your voice heard. After a couple of hours of play I reached some sort of radio tower and found myself actually kind of excited to switch the PS5 off... that's not a good sign.
I have a hard time sticking to single player open world games with crafting and such as I feel like all my time is being wasted. I don't play single player games to 'craft' or to 'build myself up'. I like to play a single player game because each level increases with difficulty and power-ups/unlockables are attained as the game progresses. Single player crafting games leave me feeling drained after gathering all the materials and managing to find a workbench capable of using them to craft the next tier of armor/weapon needed to progress. So I understand the lack of enthusiasm for continuing Dead by Daylight 2.
Metroidvanias and side-scroller games do have an energy pumping vibe and a sense of accomplishment for beating a particularly hard level and that action is easily replicable whereas gathering the energy to play another 'open world crafting' game and beginning with a basic tool and wood tier gear is tiring after the 5th time, the 10th time, the 17th time.
Video Games are meant to be enjoyed and if the player isn't having fun playing it then what is the real point for the player?
Thanks for sharing your story though! I understood where you were coming from and why the game didn't feel fun to play.
never a truer word about gaming has ever been spoken. I really don't like to grind in any game and find that when that is what the game has become, it is not a game for me. For a game to start out with this tedious process makes it even worse. As impractical as it seems, I prefer just finding health packs stashed around like in Doom or Tomb Raider, even though they don't have any good reason for actually being there. It's a video game, not a life simulator.
The last 1-person open-world game that I truly enjoyed was the latest Zelda game but even with that I got tired of the cooking which is essentially like what we are talking about here. It was interesting for a while but then it just became some tedious thing that you had to do in order to progress. It shouldn't be that way.
Dying Light 2, after just these 2 comments, is going to get left in my rear-view. Moving on!
have you played Dying Light 1?
I played the shit out of it, plus spent some 8k hours developing custom maps for it. i really loved that game when i played it. not for the crafting, but for the slashing aspect of it. it's very satisfying game to hack and slash zombies, mainly through melee. while there is crafting, it is nowhere near as convoluted to DL2. DL2 it's like they tried to do a Witcher game, with all the stupid potions, rpg elements and million side quests. DL1 is much more of a straight forward slasher game.
like i said, i played the hell out of DL1 and couldn't stand DL2. you should probably switch the DL version, from 2 to 1, on your hard drive! ;)
very helpful information and very good to know. I will try exactly that if it is an option.